


Ghostin

by JennaML



Category: Monsta X (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Angst?, Coma, Demons, Gen, Ghosts, Limbo Realm, Supernatural - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-06-24 14:22:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 19
Words: 30,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19725439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JennaML/pseuds/JennaML
Summary: Hyungwon ends up trapped in Limbo, surrounded by demons and wandering spirits, plots and schemes against him, new alliances and enemies that hide behind Limbo's grays. Will he be able to wake up from this hell? or will he forever be... ghostin?**I don't own anything related to Monsta X or BTS, this story is completely imaginative. I own the story and nothing else**





	1. Voice - Part 1

When Hyungwon opened his eyes he wasn't sure what was around him, it was cold and empty. As his eyes began to focus and clear, he realized he was in a hospital. Then he remembered.

The accident.

"I need to find my brothers!" Hyungwon ran as fast as he could, trying to get the attention of the nurses and staff he saw, but none of them paid him any attention. He was at a loss until he heard voices coming from the other end of the hall he was on.

"Hoseok! Changkyun! Minhyuk! What's wrong? Did you get hurt? Where are Hyunwoo and Kihyun? Where's Jooheon?" He tried waving at them, but they were doing the same thing the nurses were doing. No matter how hard he yelled, it was like they couldn't hear them. He couldn't figure it out, and he was getting angry.

"Yah! Answer me!" He tried to shake them, but when he reached for them his hand went right though them. "W-w-what is this..." He tried again and again, but nothing. Nothing was working.

Just then Jooheon, Kihyun, and Hyunwoo arrived. All of them had minor injuries, but none too severe. Hyungwon wondered why they were here, and looked to the sign above the door they were just outside of:

_Surgery in progress_

The door was no longer a barrier to him, he could walk right through it. He dreaded what he was to see, but he felt he already knew what was behind the door. It was him. They'd been working on him for hours now, and he was dying on a surgery bed.

"Guys... I'm right here! I'm right here, can't you hear me? Please! I'm right here!" He desperately calls to them, collapsing to the ground as the realization of what he was sunk in, watching them shock his body repeatedly until his vitals came back once again.

\-----------------------------

"What do you mean he may never wake up?" Hoseok wasn't sure what he was hearing. He grabbed the surgeon by the shoulders and shook him for reaffirmation. "What does that mean...?" His tears were streaming down his swollen eyes and red cheeks as his heart plummeted into his stomach.

"Hoseok-hyung..." Changkyun whispered. "Please..." His shaky hands and dead eyes reeled Hoseok back in. All six of them covered in cuts and scraps from the accident. But Hyungwon... Hyungwon wasn't so lucky.

Kihyun cried silently into Hyunwoo's shoulder as Jooheon tried to comfort Changkyun. Minhyuk was trying to keep Hoseok together. And Hoseok was trying to do the same for Minhyuk. But the news... was just too devastating for any of them to process.

"Although we were able to save him, his stable state is fragile at _best,"_ He sighed, "In a way of speaking, you could say that your brother protected you in the crash... by taking the brunt of it."

Hoseok fell to his knees, remembering. The truck blindsided them, driving through the stop at a speed much faster than the limit. Instead of protecting himself from the incoming impact, he protected _them_. And the truck hit his side of the car, hit _him_ dead on.

Grabbing Hoseok's shoulders just as firmly as he was grabbing his, the doctor helped him up to the chair. "I promise I will give him his _best_ possible chance, but you have to be strong, you hear me? I must go now, you guys can see him now."

With that he left to tend to other patients, and the boys look on to Hyungwon behind the glass window, hooked up to different IVs and machines, a breathing mask on his bruised face and casts on his left arm and leg, bandages everywhere else.

The heart monitor beeped at a steady pace. And other those steady beeps, there was nothing but silence. Deafening, crushing silence. And Hyungwon just lay there, helpless and still.

\----------------------

Hyungwon watched his brothers sit silently in the room beside him, or at least the him they could see. He tried over and over again to get into his body, wake up, or even get it to move a pinky toe!

_Nothing._

"Ugh! What is this anyway? I'm right here, but I'm _not_ here..." 

_"This is Limbo, where those who are not quiet dead yet make the choice to either try to live, or die and go to wherever."_ Hyungwon jumped out of his skin as the little ball of blue flame suddenly appeared before him. _"Do you wish to live or die?"_

"Live, obviously." 

_"Dying would have been much simpler in your case..."_

"HEY! Who- no- _What_ are you anyway?" The little ball of flame swayed back and forth as it flickered. _"To put it frankly, I am your life force. And dude, you just look **hella** bad right now."_ If the flame had a face Hyungwon could almost see how _hard_ it was judging him right now. It sounded like a girl though...

"Do you have a name? What do I call you?" 

_"I'm Essence, and since you want to live, don't know how that's gonna work but, since you **do** , I must guide you in doing so._" Hyungwon's eyes lit up. "So there _is_ a way for me to wake up?!" He could almost see Essence judging him again for his ignorance. _"Why do you think I asked you, Hyungwon? But it isn't going to be easy by a long shot."_

She glided her was closer to him. _"Do you see me right now? I am but a simple, **dying** flame. And that's what represents **you** right now. If you can increase my size to where I can take form, I will have enough power to put your soul back into your body so you can wake up from this."_

"How do I do that?" She floated over to his brothers, who'd fallen asleep in different parts of the large room. _"Them. They can help you."_ Hyungwon was even more confused. "How can they help me?! They can't see, hear, or even feel me..."

_"That is what you'll need to work on. Right now, you are a low grade spirit. You need to get stronger, and that's risky. For each power you gain: Your sense of touch to move things around you, your voice so they hear you, and your presence so you can touch them, your physical body will become weaker."_

"So by getting stronger as a ghost I'm killing my human, living self? Then how does that help me then?!" She could understand his confusion. _"By your spirit getting stronger, **I** get stronger. And when your body is at it's weakest, that is the best time for me to force your soul back into it. Right now, your soul is too weak and your body's own defenses won't let you back in."_

"Ah... So, it's like my body has a door and it's locked, and by gaining these powers, I unlock it bit by bit until it opens for me to go in?" Essence was very pleased. _"Exactly. But if we miss that very narrow window to get you back in, you either die or have other complications should you be able to wake"_

"What... do you mean by that?" Hyungwon gulped, knowing her answer but needed to hear it to alleviate his denial. _"Because you are in such a state, gaining power could already kill you. And if we miss the window, should you be strong enough to make it through to that far, you could also die or lose a piece of yourself to Limbo."_

She was super matter-of-fact about the matter, holding no facts to herself about this. " _And that's if you don't encounter demons before then. That is also a problem."_

"What do you mean demons? _Details_ Essence, This Hyungwon right here needs _details_." He little blue fires flickered, creating smoke directly above her. That smoke then began to change into images, images that both intrigued and frightened Hyungwon.

"They look like normal people, what's so scary about them?" Hyungwon could see her shaking her head. _"Demons take souls that linger in Limbo to fuel their own lifespan. Basically, they eat delicious morsels like **you** , Hyungwon."_

"Huh?!" Hyungwon gasped. These normal looking people eat souls, and right now, he was _an actual snack_. "Wait wait wait... Is there no way to protect myself? I do not want to get eaten, even though I know I more than likely taste delicious." The little flame actually cracked up at that.

 _"Well, that's my job. But you have to get me stronger, which means we'll be working on the first "lock on the door" as you call it, which is your voice._ " The little flame perked up, rearing to go.

_"Time to get your brothers to hear you."_


	2. Voice - Part 2

__

_"_ _Hyungwon... we've been doing this for 2 weeks now, just screaming your lungs out will not help them hear you. If **I** had ears, however, they'd be bleeding right now."_ Essence sighed. They had been following the brothers around in efforts for his voice to get through to them.

He found that he could, in a way, _attach_ himself to one of his brothers and follow them out of his hospital room. It wasn't at all like the movies where his spirit was trapped in one place. And he didn't float, bummer. Being a ghost is not at all what he thought it would be, it is super stressful and annoying. 

Now he sat in that hospital room next to the real him, the comatose him, the near dead him. The one who frustrated him the most because he was so helpless and useless. The one causing his brothers unending grief because of the uncertainty of his future. "Hey Essence... is it selfish of me to want to live? If I just give up, my brothers wouldn't have to grief like this. They'll cry, but eventually they will be okay. So is it selfish of me that I want to live, knowing that this fight could end up like that anyway?"

The flame swirled around him, letting him feel her warmth on his ghostly skin. _"It is selfish, yet it is selfless. It is what you want, yet it is also what they need. Do you think these boys before you will truly be okay if you leave without putting up a fight?"_

Hyungwon looked at them as they slept in his hospital room. These six brothers of his who came to see him every day without fail, hoping and praying for him to wake up. _"Your fight is not only for yourself, Hyungwon, it's for those who you hold dear as well."_

After a pause for thought, Hyungwon once again began screaming his head off as if his lungs were trying to _yeet_ themselves out of his chest. _"God Damn it Hyungwon!! I've half a mind to burn those screeching vocal chords! You are dying, I get it, now stop **vocalizing** that fact PLEASE!"_

"Then how am I supposed to do this then!? Nothing I do works! Not one of them can hear me." He pouted. _"I keep **trying** to explain it to you."_ She sighs even deeper and continues, _"Your body right now is made of pure energy, screaming does absolutely nothing except for making my invisible ears bleed."_

"Hey! I'm new to this, okay?! Give me a break!" Essence's little blue flame sparked in frustration, calming again after a few seconds. _"Hyungwon, because you are energy, you have to draw on energy from different places."_ He sat down, trying to take in her explanation. _"There are three such energies."_

She began using her smoke again to make her cool pictures, showing him the diagram of a person and three points on their body glowing with her blue fire: the head, the throat, and the heart.

_"The head is where your spacial energy flows and is called the **Lacuna Point** , it deals with your mind and the ability to touch as a spirit. Below that is what we are working on now and the easiest point to access, the throat which is known as the **Echo Point**."_

She paused, letting what she'd just said sink in before she continued on.

 _"And here,"_ The flame on the heart burned brighter, and she took an even more serious tone, _"This is the hardest and most dangerous point, the heart, which is what **I** am for you, the **Essence Point**."_

"What do you mean _you are that for me_?" The diagram disappeared and the flame glided herself closer to him. _"It means exactly what I said it means, **I am your Essence Point, Hyungwon**. "_

Hyungwon paused, thinking on what she was saying. "Does... your point... _hurt?"_

 _"Oh yes. Immensely."_ She said bluntly, _"I'd say you'll wish to die, but you'll already be doing that."_ She sugar coated nothing. "Haha, that isn't funny." She swayed, her little flames flickering. _"It wasn't meant to be funny. This is gonna hurt you like hell."_

"I meant... will it hurt _you_?" She stopped swaying momentarily and then continued on. _"Don't worry about me, Hyungwon, I'll be just fine."_ He could hear the subtle hesitation in her voice, there was something she wasn't telling him. " _But The Echo and Lacuna points are relatively painless because you are pulling energy from outside your spirit body **into** it, manipulating it."_

"Wait? Isn't that what I'm doing for all of them?" He was so confused with all of this, Limbo knowledge was so complicated. It made no sense.

_"No. When you are strong enough, you will channel **me** through you to use the Essence Point. I will return to your heart, and help you to take form. And when that happens, I will force you into your body. And you will feel **everything**."_

"Wow... that _does_ sound painful." Hyungwon blew through his cheeks. "Okay... let's do this. ...How do I do this?" Essence let out a small laugh, and then began to try explaining it to him.

_"Now, the Echo Point is called that for a reason; It is an **echo** of memories, things that have been said, thoughts, those important messages that have great meaning to you. If that message is strong enough, you can make it audible using the energy emitted from dreams."_

"What would be strong enough? Cause I have a sinking feeling just 'I love you' isn't enough..." Her invisible hard judgmental expression didn't have to be seen to be seen. _"Yes, that ain't enough by a **long shot** , Hyungwon. The last thought before the crash... a wish... motto... it has to be something **especially** important to you."_

She swirled around him, her tone slightly softer, but the same stern and seriousness underneath it. _"'I love yous' are said too often to have any meaning in this unforgiving Limbo."_ Hyungwon thought on it as another question popped up. "Why can't I do that while they're awake? Will that not work?"

 _"Oh, you can, and you will. We are doing this the **absolute** **simplest** way possible, borrow one of their bodies and say or do something."_ Hyungwon cringed that hardest cringe that he thought he could cringe. "Possession?! That... no, I'm not doing that."

_"You'll have to if you want to **live**. You are like a black dot on a white paper right now and **I'm not yet strong enough to protect you yet**. It's not like you'll be able to do anything until you master this anyway"_

"You're not serious...." Hyungwon didn't have to see her face to see her face. "You _are_ serious..."

_"Get in OR get eaten. Pick one."_

Hyungwon reluctantly decides on who he will... possess. But then realizes something. "How do I do this?" Essence sighs heavy enough to puff smoke. _"The same way you tried to get in your body, just walk through them. It'll be like you're riding in passenger seat, you won't be able to make them do anything yet."_

"Oh... okay." He walks to one of them, and walks through them. 


	3. Voice - Part 3

Hyungwon felt like he was piggy-back riding on Hoseok, _he_ being none the wiser to the fact that he just got possessed. "Are you sure he won't feel us here? Cause this is the most awkward thing I think I will ever, and NEVER do again when I leave here."

 _"Yes. There is no way for him to feel us here, and no way for demons to feel us here either. It's like camouflage."_ She flickered along beside them, also completely unnoticed. _"When you finally open the Echo Point though, we will leave him, and move on to the next phase of getting you back in your body."_

"So... now what do I do? I've possessed him, but he still can't hear me." Essence swayed and flickered her little blue fires. _"He won't, not until you can manage to open the Echo point, Hyungwon. Simply think a thought, a memory. You can even try talking to him in his dreams. I believe dreams is the easiest route, so for now, let's wait for him to sleep."_

"Okay... I guess Imma be piggy backing on him all day, won't I...?" 

_"For the most part, yes. Once you get home, I'll create a protected space. No demon will be able to get through or sense you, but that doesn't mean we're completely safe..."_ She began to flicker in her thoughts, Hyungwon still confused. "But if they can't sense or get to me, how is it still not safe?" 

_"Because unlike you, a demon's form treads in both Limbo and the Living plane. They can attack not only you, but your brothers too if they wanted to, because they have human, physical forms. And I suspect... That a **demon** was the cause of this whole mess in the first place." _

Hyungwon shuddered at the thought. "You don't mean..." She fluttered closer to him. _"Yes, Hyungwon. I think there are demons after you, and they were after you **before** you came here."_ Hyungwon was devastated. Was nowhere safe?

His brothers were in danger even without him there?

_"You are a rare case, because demons don't normally go to such lengths unless they are desperate. This drastic method doesn't always work in their favor, as the risk is extremely high for both parties in equal shares."_

Essence began to turn from blue to a warm purple as she glided her way around him, letting him feel her warmth. _"I highly doubt this demon in question will try that tactic again, going after the living is too high of a risk."_

Hyungwon couldn't process what she was saying other than the fact that he was pissed. Not only did this demon hurt him, but it also hurt his bothers. He wasn't going to stand for it, if he ever saw it face to face, he was going to make it wish it never existed.

Just as he felt this surge of pinpointed anger he felt a sharp, crippling pain in his chest, "W-what is this Essence...!?" Hyungwon looked to the flame as he gripped his chest, her color now a raging red along with his anger. _"It is your anger, Hyungwon. I am your heart, and your strong emotions are what you will use to channel me. You could say that my color represents your state of heart."_

He breathed in and out, trying his best to calm himself. As he did, the pain he felt receded, him watching as Essence returned to her steady, calm blue. _"We are not yet at that step. Try to keep such strong emotions in check, or **death** couldn't be more **certain**."_

 ~~ _"I miss Hyungwon... all of us miss him... I hope he can wake up soon... Please wake up, Hyungwon..."_ ~~Hyungwon could hear Hoseok's sad voice enter his mind in a muffled whisper. You would think he'd be startled, but instead of being scared he felt the sadness from every letter. _"You hear it? That was quick."_

"What is this Essence?! Why do I feel-" 

_"It's not you who is feeling this, but **him**."_ She motioned over to Hoseok, who wiped a tear before it could fall from his eye. _"These are his emotions, his thoughts. Because you are possessing him, you feel what he's feeling, and when you can access the Echo Point, he will feel and hear your response to it. Do you understand now?"_

"Yes... yes I do." Hyungwon wiped the tears from his cheeks as they made their way to the front door of the house, Essence putting up the barrier and making the house a safe zone. _"There... that should do it."_ Hyungwon watched as a barrier began to form around the house, one that only they could see. _"No demon will be able to get through this, but until I'm stronger, I **can't** fight one if we meet them out in the open. So let's get started."_

_\---------_ _\---------------------_

"Imma wash up and head to bed guys. See you in the morning..." Hoseok sounded so lifeless as he headed up the stairs to the room he, Hyunwoo, and... Hyungwon had shared... They all missed him, all of them were hurting, but Hoseok felt so responsible.

Because it was _him_ who asked Hyungwon to drive that day.

He thought it was so cool watching Hyungwon drive, and he drove so safely and responsibly. It was comfortable when he was at the wheel, and Hoseok had just gotten back from work. Everything was supposed to be fine... Just going to spend time with his brothers like he always did, but then-

In the passenger seat, he felt Hyungwon wrap his arms around him. The car was coming in too quickly, it was too large, and too close for them to get out of the way in time. It was on his side, the driver's side, but Hyungwon didn't care about that, He care about Hoseok getting hit.

If Hoseok had only driven that day... Then Hyungwon would have been safe. 

He rested his head on the pillow, his tears soaking into it before he finally fell asleep.

\----

This dream was much different than any other he'd had before. The ground was wet, it was raining. It was dark and the streets were empty, the lamps on the ends of them giving off dim pink lights. ~~**_".I."_**~~ A voice, muffled and barely audible, but Hoseok could hear how desperate it was.

"W-who's there?" The pouring rain in his dream made it almost impossible for him to hear the desperate voice _. ~~ **"...ple...."**~~_ He could still barely hear it, looking off to the distance, at the end of the wet street, at the edge of the rain. It was like a ball of smoke trying to take shape. 

And a little blue dot beside it.

He could see his hands, that he was tall, and that he was screaming. Trying to get his voice out, but unable to. Hoseok could almost feel his frustration as the figure was trying his best to tell him something. "Who are you? What are you trying to say?" 

~~**_"..wait..."_**~~ The rain had soaked through his clothes, wherever he was, it was cold and... lonely. He felt desperate to say something, to scream and shout, he felt unbelievable sadness and worry, and guilt... ~~**_"...please..."_** ~~The tears were streaming down his face as his desperation grew more and more.

But these feelings weren't his. They were that figure's emotions _towards_ him. The figure's form became like a blur through the rain, unable to fully take shape. It gliding through the pouring rain to the other side of the street, and went through him.

And when he did, his voice became clear. _Who's_ voice it was became clear.

**_"...Please... wait... for me... Promise me..."_**

\----------

Hoseok shot up from his bed. He was alone in their room covered in a cold sweat, only just then noticing the tears falling from his eyes as they landed on his hands.

"I'll wait for you." A smile slowly made his way to his face, the first smile he'd had in weeks since the accident. "I promise I won't cry alone anymore.... Hyungwon."


	4. Voice - Part 4

Just as Hyungwon finally managed to get those few words out. He knew that Hoseok had heard him. It was like the atmosphere of the dream was blocking him from speaking or interacting with him; it was like trying to swim to the surface of water to breathe, but have weights attacked to each arm and leg. 

"Essence! Essence I did it I- Essence?" The little flame began to grow and change before his eyes with the pulsation of akin to a heartbeat. With each thump she grew bigger and bigger, growing from the size of his nail to the size of his hand!

Her fires began to flicker and flutter as little pieces of flames the size she once was began to break off from her. And she opened like a budding flower, revealing tiny fire sprite. "Wow... what happened to you?! You're... beautiful."

"With each power you master I grow bigger." She hummed, Hyungwon now being able to visibly see her pleased expression. She had a bright and warm smile just like the flames that made her. Truly- "What are you staring at, Hyungwon?" 

"N-nothing." He quickly turned away, embarrassed at the fact that he was caught staring. And now he could see that hard judgmental face of hers as she looked at him. "Yeah... Uhuh." She began to sway back and forth, "'Nothing' you say... very convincing."

She shrugged at him, not really caring as she glided her way in front of him. "It is good that you've successfully accessed the Echo Point, but just tapping into it is the same as only putting the key into the lock. To turn that key, your voice must reach into the living world."

"But I just did that didn't I? Hoseok heard me!" She sighed, puffing out a ball of dark smoke. "He heard you in his dream, not physically. Enough to put the key in, not to turn it." She shook her head. "But the concept you managed to grasp that same method is applied to the living world."

"You said that the using dreams was the easiest way to start and I've done that and successfully helped you to grow. Right?" Essence nodded. "So the next step involves me actually taking control of his body, like those possessions in the movies?"

"No. It'll be more like you are using his body as a catalyst to speak through, like a mic to make your voice heard." Hyungwon plopped to the ground in a heap of tired ghost, "How can this be more difficult than that was?! Wasn't this supposed to be the easiest one?!" She floated herself in front of his face as he laid exhausted on the floor. "I said it was the easiest of the points to master, yes, but I never said it was easy to do."

Hyungwon let out a tired puff. "Have I said how much I hate this?" He could see her disinterested face as she once again began to float around, flipping and twisting in the air having nothing better to do. "You have, not that I care."

Hyungwon blew through his cheeks. Her attitude upgraded with her size. "I liked you better when you were teeny." He whispered. "Boo hoo for you now get up." Crap, she heard him, and Hyungwon wanted to be even more invisible than he already was. But then a foreboding feeling washed over him.

"Wait, what does this mean for my body..." She gave him a solemn look, and he dreaded the answer. "Me growing is both a good and bad omen for you: It symbolizes that you have become stronger, but because you have become stronger, your real body has become that much weaker."

"What if I die before I can get back into my body?" Essence floated over to him, putting her tiny and warm hand on his cheek. "I won't let you die here. I will do everything in my power to get you out of here, Hyungwon." With that she placed a small kiss on his forehead. "I promise I'll keep you safe."

Hyungwon couldn't help but feel a familiarity with her words. Their warmth left him reassured. "Let's do this. It's time I unlock the Echo Point. I have a feeling that this is different than just a possession like I did with Hoseok..."

"You are correct." She hummed. "To break the point and fully unlock it, you're message must be received in the living world. It'll be like it's them that's thinking it, when in all actuality it is you who thought it, and it echoed in their mind as their voice. Like this: SIT."

"Sit." Hyungwon found himself sitting before he realized it. "What did you just-" She laid back in the air and drifted around as if she were in water. "That is the Echo Point, and what you are trying to do." He was dumbfounded. "How did you use it and I don't know how to use it yet?" 

"I know how to use all of the points, but I must be bigger to access all of them. You are not yet strong enough to take me using the others, it would kill you. Our goal is to steadily increase your power so that doesn't happen immediately."

She stopped floating, a stern look on her beautiful face. "You will feel pain from this point on, and that pain will only grow..." Her worry was painfully apparent. Hyungwon nodded, understanding what she was trying to say. "I'll try my best to deal with it when it comes."

She whispered under her breath, inaudible to Hyungwon as he walked off to figure out who he was going to possess next. "Underestimating Limbo... is a very large mistake Hyungwon."

The young man came to the roof of the building, meeting two others while dragging a woman there, and struggle as she might, she couldn't break away from him."Who are you?! Why have you brought me here!? Let me go!"

She yelped as he slung her to the ground in front of them. "We brought you over for dinner," and all three of their eyes red and vicious. "That dinner... being you, sweetness." The eldest slicked his hair back as he let what he said sink in, the woman's fear peaking.

Before she could scream, they tore her apart, her essence flame unable to protect her as it died along with her. They absorbed her into their being, each getting an equal share of her soul. And she disappeared as if she were never there, her real body breathing it's last breath.

"That look of terror just before they die is the best seasoning." The eldest said, the others agreeing with him. The boys gathered at the ledge once again, unfazed by the fact that they just killed a poor soul unlucky enough to have been caught by them. 

"You found him yet?" The second eldest asked, his voice much deeper than the elder's. He had a mullet and a boxy smile. "The one we hit?"

"No, not yet." The one who brought the woman walked up to the youngest of them standing at the very edge of the rooftop, who was pouting. "What's wrong, Kookie?"

"I feel bad for losing track of his soul after we managed to pull it out. That sprite of his was strong for a little flame..." He pouted. "She was so tiny though! How was she strong enough to ward me off, Jimin?"

"She was a unique essence," He explained, "and souls that have them are extremely rare and stronger than the normal souls we usually find in Limbo. That one soul could last us ten times longer than this soul we just devoured."

Suddenly the second eldest erupted in happy laughter. "What's so funny Tae?" The youngest asked in confusion. "Jungkook, you may get a second chance~" He grinned even wider, a box smile forming on his face as he looked to the both of them in delight. "I think I may have found him."

Their eyes glowed red once again, the hunt was back on, and their next target was sighted.


	5. Voice - Part 5

Hyungwon sat across his body, just staring at it as he contemplated what his going forward, what him getting stronger would and could possibly do to him. There was a 50/50 chance at _best_ of this going as planned, but if it didn't... what would happen then? He had no back-up plan. No fallback or reset button.

If he messed this up, that was it. **_The end._**

He sighed deeply, watching the heart monitor beep and the IV drip, watching the steady, slow breaths of the living Hyungwon. "Hey you. You're about to go through some really painful trails, so Imma need you to stay strong. You better not die on me, you hear?"

He got up, and looked to Essence who was floating next to him. He took a minute, breathing in and preparing himself. "Okay... okay so how do I start this?"

She glided over his sleeping figure, talking as she rested at the top of his hospital bed. _"For me, All I had to do was speak. But for you, it won't be that easy. Each point is driven by specific emotions, different drives. Do you remember how you **felt** while trying to speak in Hoseok's dream?"_

She sways and floats around him as he thought about that dream and how he felt before his voice finally came out. "I was... **_afraid._** I _needed_ him to hear me..." Hyungwon finally answered.

Essence sat on his head, her fires warm, but not burning in the slightest. _"That feeling, you can use it to focus your energy. And then speak, letting it travel along your words."_

"I'll try, but how will I know it's working?"

 _"For your spirit form, you will feel pain where the point channels from: here."_ She hops off his head and places her hand at the base of his neck. _"And for your real body, It will be akin to trying to breath in water, and once unlocked fully, will stay like that until you return to it."_

"I'll die if I suffocate!" Hyungwon exclaimed. Essence reassured him and explained further. _"The doctors will put you on a breathing machine because your oxygen will be low, you're in a hospital, Hyungwon."_

"But still!!" Hyungwon flopped in the chair closest to his body, "Will it be like this with every point I unlock? My body and me stay in pain until you smosh us back together again?"

_"Yes and No. Once you unlock it, your **spirit** won't be hurting anymore, and I can use that power to it's full capacity. Your body will, because your spirit has grown stronger. You need only unlock a point once, but unlocking it is the hardest thing to do."_

"So once I do unlock them, I can use it whenever I want with the pain?" Hyungwon asked. _"Yes. There will be no pain after the first success. But getting there will be difficult and extremely painful."_

"Ah... that is both relieving... and terrifying." Hyungwon looked at her, dumbfounded by her matter-of-fact nonchalant attitude at all of this. "You aren't scared in the slightest, are you?"

 _"Of you mastering the Echo and Lacuna Points? No, why should I be?"_ She shrugged and went about her floating twirls as she waited for him to steel himself for this trail. "What about the Essence Point? Your Point?"

She froze, turning to him and speaking after a moment of pause. _"I am not afraid of my point... I was born for it."_

Hyungwon could see how her demeanor changed slightly. There was something that she wasn't telling him about her point. Something that she wanted to hide from him until the very last minute. And no matter what he did or said, she would not elaborate on it until the time came.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Changkyun felt completely odd the entire day he was at school. It was like something was watching him from a distance. But every time he'd look, nothing. There would be absolutely nothing there.

And every night he'd go to sleep, it was the same _horrible_ nightmare of that night _..._

_~~Flashback, The Accident~_

Changkyun's head throbbed and pounded the more he opened his eyes, the blood slowly trickling down his head from where he'd hit it when the car flipped in the crash. His vision was hazy, and every part of his body was aching.

"Yah... are you guys okay...? Answer me...?!" He called out to his hyungs as they laid beside him, slowly waking up and answering him. All of them had cuts and scraps, but nothing major. They each got out of the car, seeing no sign of the large truck that hit them.

"Hyungwon!" Hoseok's panicked voice from the passenger's seat snapped everyone out of it as he was crying, trying to get Hyungwon to wake up. Hyungwon was a complete mess; The wheel pinned his broken leg down and his arm that was closest to the door had been badly injured. There was blood everywhere...

And the stains were growing as they looked upon them.

"HYUNGWON!! PLEASE! OPEN YOUR EYES!" Everyone got out of the car, Minhyuk calling the ambulance immediately. Using their combined might, they pried the broken and bend door open, Hyungwon looking at them with tired, heavy eyes. 

Their devastation only grew as the smell of leaking gas filled their noses, Hyungwon still pinned to the seat by the now completely broken wheel. ~~"Go"~~ He mouthed. ~~"Get away"~~ Everyone one of them shook their head as they worked together to do the same thing they did to the door. Slowly but surely lifting the wheel up enough for Hyunwoo to pull him out of the car.

Just before it erupted in flames.

They were just in time, any second later and it would have been too late. But that wasn't the scary part. No... not by a long shot. 

Hyunwoo was holding Hyungwon in his arms, desperately trying to stop the bleeding. His arm, his leg, his body... everywhere was covered in blood and deep cuts... broken bones. Changkyun could only watch in horror as his blood stained the street, the sirens of the ambulance steadily getting closer to where they were.

 ~~"It's okay... don't cry"~~ He mouthed, unable to speak because of the bruising on his neck from the crash, too weak to. Changkyun went to the ground to meet him, Hoseok, Minhyuk, Kihyun, and Jooheon on the lookout for the ambulance, Minhyuk still on the phone with them and the police.

 ~~"Don't cry..."~~ Hyungwon tried to reach and catch Changkyun's tears, but before he reach, his hand went limp. His eyes closed, and his breath stopped. "Hyungwon..? Open your eyes, Hyung... _Please_..."

~~_"Be prepared for the worst."_ ~~

"Stop..." Changkyun covered his ears. The voice only getting louder and louder. "Please stop..."

**~~_"He may never wake up."_ ~~ **

"Shut up Shut up Shut up Shut up!!" The eerie whispers of what the doctors were all saying, the whispers of the nurses who doubted his survival. "You're wrong!!"

**_"YOUR BROTHER IS GOING TO DIE!"_ **

  
"No!!" Changkyun screamed as he woke, shaking and covered in sweat. That dream again, that voice again. Changkyun hadn't been able to sleep well since a few nights ago. First it was just the nightmare, that awful memory, but then the voices, like his innermost darkest thoughts, plagued them. 

Everywhere he'd go he'd hear them in the back of his head. Hear them over his shoulder. When he was awake, when he was asleep. He'd hear them taking. _"It should have been you"_ they'd hiss, _"It's all your fault"_

He covered his ears, trying to block it out as it laughed in his head. But the more they it, the worse he felt... both physically, and mentally. He couldn't shake this sinking, gut-wrenching feeling of dread and worry. "You're wrong..." 

His days were filled with worry, his dreams nightmares. But through the darkness, through the pain and sadness, he'd hear a muffed, silent cry trying to break through to him, through the fog and turmoil.

But even as he tried to get past it all to hear it. It was just too far away, too quiet, to hear above the screaming demons in his mind.

**_Next: Echo_ **


	6. Echo - Part 1

"CHANGKYUN!!!" Hyungwon called with all of his might as the shadows swirled with his dream plane, making him remember over, and over, and over that horrible day. Making him feel guilt and pain and sorrow endlessly, chipping away at his sanity little by little, day by day. 

Essence's fires raged as she purged away the shadows, but her power was limited greatly. _"Hyungwon, you must concentrate on breaking the Echo point. That is the only way we'll be able to get through them!"_

"I'm trying! I feel the fear, _I'm sure as hell_ desperate!! But I can't get it to work, I don't feel anything except for being completely helpless here!!" Hyungwon swatted away at the shadows that came near him, them fading like smoke just to reappear. "What are these things?! Where are they coming from?!"

 _"They **were** simple will-o-the-wisp... usually they wander aimlessly, just mindless, thoughtless puffs of smoke but these,"_ She continued to burn them out with her purifying flames, _"These have been transformed and corrupted somehow! Someone is doing this, controlling them!"_

Just then the head of the pack noticed them struggling to get through to Changkyun, who was lost in a trance in his nightmare being caused by these evil wisps. It looked much different than what was keeping them out; unlike them, it had a definite shape. 

It was bigger than Essence, but not too much bigger, with a bony frame equipped with branching horns and skeletal wings. It was ash white without a face, and a figure that was almost feminine. It's fingers were long and sharp like needles, and the shadows whooshed around it.

 _"A demon sprite."_ Essence's flames began to rage red, and Hyungwon felt the pain in his chest grow as she became brighter and hotter. "Ess- I-" Hyungwon collapsed to the ground, trying to cope with the immense pain he was in from Essence's forced channel.

_"Bare with it for 3 minutes, Hyungwon. If I don't do this now, your brother's going to lose his soul to that thing. Demon Sprites can only mean one thing, and that's **demons**. And **that one** haunting your little brother is strong, so I must go into **battle mode**."_

"Wh-what th-the heck is- B-battle mode?!" Hyungwon gasped between each surge of pain, his ears drowning in his own screams. If his spirit felt like this, then his body was in an even tougher spot.

_" **Something that's gonna hurt like hell because you aren't ready for it.** I can't access it fully, but I can do enough. Use this opportunity to get Changkyun out of here, cause I can only keep this up for 3 minutes before it puts you in serious danger!" _

Essence rushed through the horde of shadows, burning them out of existence like they were absolutely nothing, Hyungwon watching in awe as she engaged the sprite in literally heated battle. He struggled to get off the ground, Essence having made a path leading directly to Changkyun as he collapsed, the demon sprite's hold on him being severed by her engaging it.

"Changkyun! Changkyun please get up! You have to wake up!" He wasn't responding at all. Hyungwon was at a loss of what to do. He was suffering in extreme pain, running out of time before Essence had to draw back her flames. "I'm sorry, hyung... It all my fault... I'm sorry..." His tears began to slowly fall down his cheeks as he repeatedly said sorry.

"No... Changkyun don't cry for me. It's okay, you did nothing wrong. I wanted to say this to you that day, but I guess I... ran out of time." The pain began to surge, but he fought through it and continued to talk to him, wiping the tears he wasn't able to that day. "I'll be okay, but you have to wake up from this now, Changkyun. It's okay, don't cry anymore."

The pain surged through his throat and poured out into words, he felt like he was trying to speak while drinking acid, his insides burned and churned as Changkyun began to disappear from the dream plane, waking up. "It's really gonna be okay?" He whispered.

"Of course it is, even if it's hard." He wanted to scream, the pain was just growing with each and every letter of every word that left his lips. But he had to say this. This time, he was gonna say those words. "It'll be okay, _I promise."_

With that Changkyun was released completely from the demon's sprite's grip, the sprite screeching in anger but unable to get near Hyungwon because Essence was keeping it at bay. But those 3 minutes were up, and Essence released her battle mode and rushed back to Hyungwon. She had purged all of the sprite's wisps as she fought with it.

It was about to charge at them, when suddenly it stopped dead, almost shuddering in fear as a voice entered the plane, deep and eerily smooth, but there was no face to match with said voice. It was just darkness, and the sprite was scared to death of it.

**_"Very interesting... you really are a unique essence. Normally, you would be much too weak to face this naughty sprite of mine, but you not only put up a even fight with her, if you had enough time in that... special... form of yours, you would have bested her!"_ **

The sprite was caught by shadowy strings, suddenly and aggressively being yanked into the air. **_"I have no use for weak toys. You have served your purpose here, but now, I have no use for you."_** It began to scream in an inhuman bellow as the strings that bound it viciously pulled and squeezed the poor sprite until it shredded to bits. 

Disappearing as if it were never there.

"Who are you and why were you messing with my brother!?" Hyungwon yelled angrily, still in absolute agony, but trying to ignore it to face the new threat. A pair of bright, red eyes appeared through the darkness, but nothing else came though the shroud of black.

 ** _"For fun, of course."_** He laughed. **_"Why else should I play with food? But you are much more interesting. I like finding fun new toys to play with."_**

Hyungwon wanted to rush the darkness, fist flying, but Essence stopped him, almost burning him to do so. _"You... you are The Puppet Master?"_ Essence hovered between Hyungwon and the darkness.

 ** _"Smart girl. But don't worry, I was just here to fun, and my fun has been had. So I'll be on my way, but trust..."_** His eyes glew brighter crimson as his darkness began to fade away, ** _"You'll be seeing me very... very soon, little one."_**

With that he left, and Hyungwon and Essence exited the plane and back into Limbo. 

Hyungwon immediately dropped from exhaustion as Essence began to grow even larger than before. His Echo Point had been successfully broken through, but that didn't mean he wasn't sore everywhere. Essence grew, but this time not exponentially. Her form became more defined and her features more apparent.

Now she wasn't completely made of flames, but her hair was, flowing separated from her as she glided, lost in thought and how even paying attention to the major change she'd just made.

"Who was that guy, Essence?!" Hyungwon was confused, angry, and all types of other emotions that he couldn't put a name to. "You called him 'the puppet master'. Details, Essence, this _very pissed off_ Hyungwon needs details!" 

_"He's... a soul keeper. Unlike normal demons, who just eat souls and continue on until they need their next meal, he collects the essences of the souls he finds... **interesting**."_ This was the first time he'd seen her even the slightest bit scared.

_"One of the big three, although he may be the weakest **physically** , his use of the souls he's collected as his pets make up greatly for it. He doesn't go after what he wants **directly** because of his lack of brute strength, however... that's not his style."_

"Then..." Hyungwon thought about it, his rages only skyrocketing, "He went after Changkyun, because he wants us? You?"

 _"Yes, Hyungwon. He will attack what we wish to protect, that is how he sets his traps. But he didn't calculate one factor in his grand plan."_ Essence's now white flames raged as a confident smile graced her face.

 _"I'm not your average Essence Point. Now that you've broken through that point of yours, my battle mode is complete."_ Essence floated towards him, _"But when I have to use it, don't get scared of me, okay?"_

Hyungwon wasn't sure what that meant, but if it beat the crap out of this puppet-master and protected his family? "I don't care if you turn into some _nightmarish monster!_ If you're **_MY_** nightmarish monster, we are **_all types of good_**."

She smiled, and then remembered. _"Hyungwon, let's go check on your body."_


	7. Echo - Part 2

All six of the brothers were outside of Hyungwon's room, unsure of how to take in this new information they'd gotten from the doctor; Hyungwon had stopped breathing on his own. The doctor's weren't sure why this happened suddenly, but his drastic lack of oxygen was enough for them to put him on a breathing tube.

He looked much paler now than he did a few days ago, his vitals were continuing to get worse and worse, and as much as they didn't want to lose hope, it was just as hard to keep it.

"He'll pull through," Changkyun spoke up, breaking the crippling silence of the hall, "I... I just know he will." He was confident in his words, the most confident they'd ever seen him be. "I know he will."

"Yeah." Hoseok joined in, adding to the positive vibes Changkyun was giving off, "We just gotta believe in him, he'll pull through." The others smiled at the two of them, their hope not yet dying out. Even as they looked at Hyungwon through the glass window now between them and him, they had hope.

"He'll wake up, I'll beat him up if he doesn't." Jooheon added, the others laughing at him. "And I'll beat _you_ up." Minhyuk put him in a head lock, rubbing his knuckle in his hair as they all laughed at him struggling. "Yah!!"

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Hyungwon smiled at them as they played with each other just beyond the glass window. He was so happy that his words had gotten through to Hoseok and Changkyun, and how they conveyed that message to the others. 

Essence was telling the truth about him not being in any more pain, and the doctors. And he was glad to have someone so experienced with it all. But that just made him wonder. "Essence... How is it that you know all of these things? It's like you've experienced them before." He'd been pondering on it for the longest.

 _"That is a long story for another time, but let's just say you aren't the first soul I've helped, but you are by far the strongest and fastest to get to this point."_ She twirled and flipped through the air in her usually laid back manner. "I guess that's a good thing for me then." Hyungwon chimmed. 

"That brings me to another question. That guy... the puppet master, as you called him, him and his brothers. How are we gonna face them? Do you know any more about them that could help us make a plan?" Essence thought about it for a while before saying anything.

_"In my many years here I've heard many things from many different souls, many essences waiting for a soul to bond with. There is the Puppet Master, whom we've met, he deals with demon sprites, using them as familiars to collect his food and new... **toys** for him to mold."_

"Yeah, I saw that in action. What about the other two?"

_"The youngest of the bunch is a wild card, they say he has two faces, two sides of himself. One soul said she came across him by accident, fearing for her life she ran to as far as she could, only to find that he didn't chase after her in the slightest. **Didn't even budge**."_

"I thought demons needed souls to live, their life force or something like that. Why would he just-"

_"Do nothing when a meal has just waltz right before him? He was in what they call his **"passive state"**. They say one can even start up a conversation with him, and he would neither attack them nor get hostile. He was **polite** actually..."_

" _What the actual hell?_ I am so confused right now..." Essence glided to him. _"I told you, he has **two** faces."_

"And I'm guessing that the other one is his demonic face?" She nodded. _"He rarely hunts for himself, most of the time just helping out his brothers, but when HE himself goes on a hunt for souls to eat, his entire demeanor **flips** like a switch. He is a Berserker Demon, he goes after every and any thing that moves in Limbo then, the only two demons he **won't** rip to pieces being his brothers."_

"Okay. That is terrifying." Hyungwon sat down on the ground. "He is a demon with a _personality disorder??"_

 _"No. He just has days were he could care less, and days when he's hangry."_ She shrugged. Her nonchalant-ness returned full force, "What about the eldest of the three?" She stopped dead, and Hyungwon was caught off guard by her action. "What could he do that the other can't that scares you more than they do?!" 

_"He can hide his true form, hide in plain sight. A shadow with a face no one has even even glimpsed. His **insatiable** hunger can't be tamed by just souls alone, he'll even go after **other demons** if they so much as look at him wrong. Only his brothers are safe from his greed. He isn't a demon, he's a **monster**..."_

Hyungwon had never seen Essence _flat out scared_ before. It wasn't like her in the slightest, which meant this guy was every type of bad news. "Okay, so that just means I need to access these points so we can get the hell out of here."

 _"Yes. The stronger I am, the more of a fight I can put up against them if we're unlucky enough to meet them. I'm not planning on becoming **lunch** or a **slave**."_ Her flares amt up as she went over to the glass were the brothers were still standing. _"Try out the Echo."_

"Wait, do what?" 

_"Try it out on one of them!"_ She was eager, this fire fairy wanted ghost pranks, and she wanted them now. _"Do it do it do it!!"_ Hyungwon went over to the window and looked at Changkyun, and then at Jooheon who was pouting, unable to defeat Minhyuk in his headlock move.

 _"_ ~~ _Changkyun, go make Jooheon feel better please_~~ _?"_ Changkyun looked confused at first, Hyungwon wasn't sure it worked. That was until Changkyun went directly out towards Jooheon, sat next to him, and did something none of them expected. 

"Y-yah!" Jooheon was completely flustered. "What was that for?" Changkyun smiled. "To make you feel better. Did it work?" Jooheon was a smiling mess, "...yeah, yeah it worked." No one could resist smiling at that face of his. It was impossible.

 _"Oo!! Fantastic!"_ Hyungwon and Essence had the same devious smile on their face as they were thinking of the same thing. **_"The Pepero Game."_** They said in unison.

_Oh, this power was gonna be so fun to misuse. But they have more important things to do right now._

_**Next: Motion** _


	8. Motion - Part 1

"No. I refused to do this. Why did you guys pick this game?!" Hoseok adamantly refused to get near the Pepero Cookies Changkyun had bought. "Stop lying to yourself, Hyung, I can see you forcing down you smile."

Changkyun called him out, Hoseok still trying, and failing, to resist smiling at the candy for one of his favorite games. Simply because of everyone's reaction to it.

"Okay, since we decided on this game at the hospital, and we know that Hyungwon also loved this game, we can't just _not_ play." It was more of a powerful urge than a decision, but no one was really debating on that now. They remembered the last pepero game they played. 

Kihyun most of all, he kept getting picked. "Okay... so the rules are _mostly_ the same as before: Pick a question, and then answer with the person who fits the bill, and that person is your partner for the game." He sat a basket full of envelops on their table in the backyard they were in. It was full of different random questions they'd be using for the game.

"Who wants to go first?" The person that went first the last time they played was Hyungwon... but as things were, there was no way for him to be first again.

"I'll go. I'll do it." Hyunwoo huffed. "I'm the oldest so... yeah, we'll do it by age this time." He began to kick his legs up and wiggle his arms, trying to get rid of the jitters and butterflies in his stomach. The other's couldn't help but laugh at his attempt to calm down.

Hyunwoo got to the basket of question, closing his eyes to pick one. He opened the little envelope, immediately laughing and smiling at the absurd question it held. "Can I pick a different one, please?!"

"Oh, and _Hyung_ , you have to say the question you got this time! No take backs." Kihyun tried to cover his laugh with his hands but it was spilling out and contagious as the other five dongseangs were beginning to laugh too. And then it sunk in that they were next, and they stopped dead. _"crap."_

"So what did you get, Hyunwoo?" He sighed as he scratched his head. "Whose body would you find the most appealing... if you were a girl...?" He cringed the hardest cringe, looking at the boys as he was deciding on who to pick.

Each of them eased their way out of the line up. "H-hey! Why are you moving away from me?!" Hoseok exclaimed. A shiver went down his spine as he felt eyes directly on him."Why are you looking at me...?" Hoseok said nervously, Hyunwoo's eyes right on him.

"Well... if I was a girl, and not related to you then..." Hyunwoo got closer. "No no no." Hoseok kept backing away until he was stopped by one enthusiastic Changkyun. "Can't back out now, Hoseok." He pushed one embarrassed Hoseok towards an equally embarrassed Hyunwoo, presenting them with their Pepero.

Hoseok put the pepero in his mouth, as the one who got picked, he had to hold the pepero while Hyunwoo, the one who picked him, ate it away to get it as small as possible. Wanting to get this over with and having no idea why they had the sudden urge to play this embarrassing game, he starts slowly eating at the pepero.

"EEEE" Minhyuk was more excited than he should have been and the others were making odd faces as the pepero got smaller and smaller... and smaller. Hyunwoo may not look it, but he is very competitive, just like how Minhyuk was the first time they played.

And how passionate he got with the pepero only increased as it got even smaller, and the odd sounds their brothers only got louder along. Hoseok's ear began to burn, feeling the passion Hyunwoo was unwittingly putting into eating away at the pepero.

Hoseok felt the shivers run down his spine as Hyunwoo continued to get closer and closer, until their noses began to rub together and Hoseok had a full blown panicked gay attack. "No no NO NOOO!!" He backed off completely, a blushing mess as he hid his completely embarrassed face. He bit the piece that was in his mouth, letting the small piece that was left fall into his hand. 

The others were too busy dying laughing at Hoseok to notice that Hyunwoo had completely spaced out for a split second, face beet red, as Hoseok began making his way to the basket for his turn. "Let me just-"

**_"...."_ **

Hyunwoo turned behind him, a small shiver crawling up his spine. "I could of sworn... I just heard _Hyungwon laughing_..." But nothing, _no one_ , was there, he quickly returns to the others, that shiver never leaving him. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Essence was rolling in the air laughing, Hyungwon on the ground doing the same. "I never thought telling Hyunwoo to 'be passionate and enjoy the candy' would- Hahahaaaa, My ghostly lungs!!!"

Essence's flames spurted out as her laughter only increased at the memory of Hyunwoo's face when he snapped out of it. _"That was perfect!"_ She giggled. "And I'd love to do more but..." She slowly composed herself, _"We'll have to do it another time Hyungwon. This is too perfect an opportunity."_

"The Lacuna Point, you mean." Hyungwon clarified for himself. "You mind explaining that again?" Essence nodded, never minding to explain, but always face palming at how many times she has to. 

_"Each point has different stages which must be broken through in order to fully unlock them, The Echo Point had two, which was dream talking, and it's self named stage, Echo. The Lacuna Point has three stages."_ She did that fancy thing with pictures made of her smoke; if Hyungwon had popcorn he'd be sitting and eating on it right now.

 _"The Lacuna Point may be located at the head of your spirit form, but it deals with the entirety of your body: to touch, move, and feel things all deal with this point."_ The image showed a person and an object, it following her as she spoke. _"Normally, a ghost wouldn't need to move anything out of the way, they can just walk through it, as you have been."_

"And with the Lacuna point, I'm not doing that." Hyungwon added. _"Correct. To put it simply, you are trying to do the opposite. To be able to hold something in your hands, for them,"_ She pointed to the boys, now Minhyuk and his natural passion driving down the pepero stick now in Kihyun's mouth.

"Oh wow... he's _really_ into that, he'll never admit he's passionate, and after what we made _Hyunwoo_ do? Oooo Yeah his competitive side wins over _any_ type of gay panic.... poor Kihyun." Hyungwon got completely distracted, trying not to laugh at Kihyun trying his best and failing not to show his panicked gay cause Minhyuk didn't care. 

Minhyuk was determined to win over Hyunwoo's stunt. He probably didn't even realize how aggressive he was being on the poor pepero until Kihyun actually ran from him, **_Literally_**. "OUR LIPS TOUCHED!!" Hyungwon was too busy laughing to notice Essence, who was smiling at him.

She wasn't sure what it was about Hyungwon that made her smile so, it had been an immeasurable amount of years that she'd been trapped in this _hell_ , but Hyungwon made it so easy for her to smile, to laugh, and... to have the most _fun_ she's _ever_ had with any other soul she's guided. 

Essence looked upon him, a feeling she couldn't quite read for herself. Hyungwon was too distracted with the feeling of missing his family, of wanting to and being unable to join them in their fun, to notice or hear her. A feeling she wanted to replace with hope. She was determined to get him home.

To get him away from this place and to a safer place with his family he longed for. But the stronger she became, the more a part of her protested: _**'You know what sending him back means, don't you? What you will become... if you stop now, you and he can stay like this'**_

She disregarded those thoughts and continued on. This... was the _right_ thing to do, and Hyungwon, more than anyone, _deserved_ what she was going to do for him.

 _"Hyungwon! Pay attention!"_ Hyungwon snapped out of it, "Oh, I'm sorry." A sad smile crossed his face as he took one last look at them before returning his attention to Essence. _"You'll join them soon, but you gotta get stronger first, plus we have demons to worry about."_

She displayed her power by lifting up a small leaf that lay by the bush they rested by, _"Fun and games end now, it's time to get back to work, Hyungwon."_


	9. Motion - Part 2

Taehyung sat in the garden, surrounded by white roses with a misty, luminous charm. He rested by the fountain in the center, reflecting the soft light of the moon. It was calm, peaceful, and quiet. He snapped his fingers, the rattling of chains becoming louder and louder as a soul flame was pulled into his grips.

"Hello sweetness," He placed a soft kiss on her cheek as she shuttered at how cold his touch was. His fingers left subtle cuts in her skin as he traced them down her figure. From her cheek, to her shoulder, down her sides. _"Release me you wretch!"_

It was a thing with anything he touched with his bare hands, them being like blades. Which is why he never wears his special gloves when dealing with his slaves... it makes everything more fun. "I can only promise it'll hurt more if you resist. Just tell me what I want to know." 

_"Neve- Ahh!!"_ The chains began to burn as her resistance only grew. "Oh~ Feisty! You were always one to put up a fight." His chains tightened once more, earning a yelp from his victim, "Brit, my sweet flame... You're still my favorite, you know?" 

He smiled as she protested, unable to escape from his chains."These are my soul chains, If you want out, then you'll have to kill me~" His deep voice whispered in her ear as he licked the small trickle of sweet blood from where his fingers had lightly cut into her skin. "But you remember that _well_ , don't you? As many times as _you've_ tried..." 

_"You are corrupted!! Transformed into something far more disgusting than any demon could be, you vile scum... I should have neve- "_ She froze as she saw his face, a dark, sinister and small grin from that was nothing but bad news. "This is why I love you so, my dear... only _you_ fight back."

His hands dug deep into her burning skin as she tried to fight him off with her flames. She was an essence flame, one at the very last stage of growth, yet instead of being a healthy and vibrant blue, she was black and white like the soul of her master.

_Taehyung_

"I've yet to break you, my longest lasting and strongest toy, but there is another... one that my chains can't go near." His smile decreased as he pinned her down with the pain of the chains, the chilling sting of his breath on her neck making her blood run cold, putting out her flames entirely. "And you know that little spirit, don't you?"

She refused to tell him anything, even through the pain, she bit her tongue to make sure he got nothing from her. "You know I have... other ways... to get what I want right?" Her eyes shot up at him, pleading. _"No... no you can't! Why do you do this to me?!"_

The chains around her tightened as her legs gave in, her constant resisting make her lose more and more strength. "I do it for my own pleasure, and you said it yourself love... I am worse than any demon could be. And hope you didn't forget... are already **_mine_**." 

The chains fused into her and disappeared along with her protest and cries and he laughed at her futile struggle. "Now that I've had my fun, tell me what I want to know, my flame."

 _"Yes, Master. The Flame you spoke of is dangerous. Even at your strongest, I can not face her. And I never will because of who she is, it would be like killing myself, Master."_ She said in a monotone, no emotion or feeling that she once had. All the work of the chains.

"I know, which is why I want her even more. But I have something better planned." He took out different pictures, five men, five targets, one of them being 'X'ed out because he'd already done what he wanted. His test of that little flame. He stopped, smiling to himself. "Jimin, Jungkook, I know you're there so come out."

The two boys tumbled out of the brush. "How did you..." Jungkook was bewildered until the strong tug on his legs brought him to his older brother, upside down in the air being held up by one of his chains. "No one can sneak up on me, dongseang." He laughed.

"So, you called us here for something interesting right? Does it involve food?" Jimin was eager, always hungry. "No. not this time, but you can have meals on the way. These humans you are to leave alone however." He pointed to the pictures, both of them being shocked.

"But these are the humans that got hit with that truck, the one I manipulated into sleeping, aren't they? Didn't you target them because one of them smelled like a delicious A1 soul?!" Jungkook was becoming angry, and Taehyung could understand fully why he was. 

He was in his docile and passive state when he was asked to do that, a state he never does anything so hostile in, only to not go after them after the deed has been done, and it wasn't just to food, it was humans, very risky when they aren't dead and wandering Limbo.

It was like walking from water you'd just found in the desert after risking it on chasing a mirage.

"He may be what we need... to get into the forbidden garden." Jimin slumped in his chair, unable to process his words. "You don't mean..." Jimin whispered, Jungkook not following any of it. "What do you mean _'The Forbidden Garden'_? What is that?"

"Taehyung, are you sure?" Jimin leaned in, more serious than ever. "Well... It's a hunch. But we mustn't tell the other's just yet until I'm sure. You know how the hyungs get when it comes to this..." 

"I'm still so lost but yeah~ I know~... No, I'm lying, I don't know _sh*t_ and it pisses me off." Jungkook was bored half out of his skull and angry. "I'm going to go eat, I smell souls all over this place." His eyes burned red, hungry and vicious. "Call me when you got something _fun_ for me to do." With that he was gone, faster than they could blink. 

"That Kookie I swear... He's just too young to understand it all." Taehyung sighed. "So, these are the newest targets, You will be around _this_ one," He pointed to one of the five boys, seeing Jimin get flustered by his pick as he finally took a good look at the pictures. "Wait, but he's- does that mean that... _f*ck._ "

Knowing his brother all too well, Taehyung knew what the problem was. "You know him, don't you? I know there are some humans you've made actual friends with in your time out of Limbo."

"Yes, unfortunately, this soul... is his younger brother it seems." Jimin sighed. It was _rare_ , but he _did_ have a human friend, and it turns out the one that might be the key to all of their problems is his brother, his brother that they had originally targeted, hit with a car, and lost to Limbo in greed... because of their demonic nature...

That complicates things for him, he may be a demon, but he was honest when it came to friends. And how could he call himself a friend when his hunger drove their younger brother's soul to a place full of hungry demons _like_ _himself_ because of his insatiable appetite?

"Then there is good news, If he is the one, which I am sure of, then you won't have to cut ties with this friend of yours..." An evil smirk grew across his face, it was like Taehyung was reading Jimin's mind. "And I get to have what I want after all. I have in mind a plan where me and Kookie can both have fun, and you keep you friendship with this human you like."

"I'm a demon in Limbo, and I would like to keep my human life separate... but I like this human, and I like a good hunt... And if what you say is correct, I won't have to eat another soul ever again." Jimin smirked at his dongseang.

"Kookie! Come over here, we've got something fun~" Within the blink of an eye, a bloody, happy Jungkook was sitting in the chair he'd left before. "Yeah? What?" His fangs and red eyes returning to their normal state.

Taehyung began to explain his plan.

"What we want is _her_ , not the soul, so we will wait to attack them at the moment she is strongest. If what I think she's planning is correct, the best strategy is to steadily increase the intensity of our attacking them. Making them stronger."

"Wait, why would we want to make her _stronger_?" Jungkook was confused, and so was Jimin. Taehyung understood and explained further. "When I met this soul, he wasn't all there. _Incomplete_ unlike the completely dead ones we see and eat. You know what that means?"

"That he's _alive_. But just barely." Jimin added, a bit shocked because of how rare it is for ones like that to end up in Limbo. "Exactly, so I'm guessing she's trying to put his soul _back_ , but right now, she's not strong enough to do so."

"Wait, hyung, couldn't _you_ do that? I mean, you are a reaper and all, well, were, but still." Jungkook had a point. "Yes. I _could_. But we need _them_ to get stronger for a different purpose."

"Knowing you, you've thought this completely through to the last letter, haven't you?" Taehyung smiled darkly at Jimin. "She has to start that process, because in that moment..." His eyes glowed red as his grin deepened. "...she will be weak enough for me to use my chains."

He called his flame toward him, her listening to his every order while the chains still held her _"And I can combine this one with her other half, opening the gates to that place."_


	10. Motion - Part 3

_"That's it Hyungwon! Just like that and hold it there for as long as you can, fight through the pain!"_ Hyungwon was _suffering_ , his head pounding left and right as he channeled through the first stage of Lacuna, "Motion" as Essence called it.

He broke the concentration, collapsing as he was unable to take the pain anymore. "I- I can't do this..." He sprawled out on the floor of the kitchen they were in. "Even while using Jooheon as a catalyst to focus, it's too hard!" Essence sighed, knowing full well that this wasn't easy.

 _"Once you get through these three stages, you will have natural feeling again and we'll be ready for the last step: **Me**."_ Hyungwon looked up at her, seeing that warm smile that only Essence had. It was rare to see her smile, and in the few months he'd been there, she hardly ever smiled. 

The only time she laughed was at that historically embarrassing and hilarious pepero game a few weeks back, but since then, she's been focused on him and only him. But something was different, she was even more determined to get him home after that game. 

Every day, he knew she was getting stronger. She grew and grew, becoming more and more like a human. Hyungwon knew from that alone that he was getting closer, that they were getting closer to their goal. Each day, endlessly, he practiced and practiced. 

Even though it hurt like hell.

Jooheon, who he was possessing now, having already possessed Hoseok and Changkyun for both steps of the Echo, was helping him, unknowingly of course, to access 'Motion'. For the other two steps he wasn't sure of, he'd possess someone else.

Essence said that possessing someone lessens the pain because the stress of it is being controlled through that person instead. Them not feeling a thing, a headache maybe, chills, but nothing they'd really pay attention to.

Hyungwon wasn't sure if the _"Making it less painful"_ part was true... but everything else checked out. 

"Hey Essence, now that I'm thinking about it... I really don't know much about you. You've help me out so much yet here I am, clueless." Hyungwon scratched his head, trying to figure out a way to ask without being invasive or too straightforward. _"You needn't say it, Hyungwon, I know what you want to know, many souls have asked it when I guided them to Heaven."_

"You guided souls to Heaven?!" Hyungwon was shook, shocked, baffled, _gagged_ even, "Are you an _Angel_?!" She just laughed at him outright. _" **Hell no** I'm not one of them! I was born from a particular human soul, me and two others, my sisters."_

"You have _sisters?_ " Hyungwon was shocked, trying to process the info, "Wait. Then where are they now?"

 _"I know not where my younger sister is now and we aren't on the best of terms."_ She scoffed. _"She hates me. But only because I am stronger."_ She shook her head, _"Still love her though. And my older sister took on the job I had after we left it."_ Trying to contain her laughter at a very gagged Hyungwon she continues the simple story of her life.

_"I used to be a guardian to a place I dare not mention to you, but I was called to serve as a guide to the lost souls here, along with my younger sister. Me and her parted ways, and she 'fell off the map' if that terminology is right. And for eons I took souls to the gates of Heaven and Hell to be judged. That was it."_

She looked absolutely bored with her own life's story. _"So yeah, my life. So... **SO**... boring... Until you."_ Hyungwon was caught off guard by her stare... their was something else in her eyes that he couldn't put his finger on. _"You are the **first** soul to make me laugh like this. To make me smile. To make me... **feel** , in my eons in Limbo, Hyungwon."_

"I... am?" Hyungwon wasn't sure of what to do when she placed a kiss on his forehead. _"Yes, you are the **only** one out of **millions**. There is something **special** about you, and I refuse to lose you to Limbo. So I'm gonna get you home." _She floated around, ignoring the fact that he was now red. "O...kay." 

______________________

"Good work today!" Minhyuk called out from his desk as the night shift police officers left the building to get some rest and his shift began. Minhyuk worked for the Violent Crimes Unit, and he even took charge of his brother's case, which he made himself. 

But it boiled down to a simple driver who went to sleep at the wheel. And he confessed as soon as he woke up and realized he'd hit them, paying for all of Hyungwon's medical expenses and _theirs_ as his way to repent for it. 

That didn't mean that Minhyuk was any less angry, or that this was any less suspicious, even though all of the camera's show _absolute_ proof that that is exactly what happened. He went to sleep at the wheel and drive through the stop, and with the rain pouring like it did, the truck slipped and picked up speed on the downhill.

And then the accident happened. And Minhyuk could do absolutely nothing for his brother except call the ambulance and find the guy who hit them. He wanted to beat him to a pulp with how angry he was, but the man was broken about it too. He actually _wanted_ them to press charges against him, punish him, hit him, _anything_.

And him being well off, he paid for everything, got Hyungwon the best doctors, at the best hospital in hopes that he'll wake up, so he came apologize a thousand times over _again_.

But Minhyuk was _still_ pissed even with all of that.

He needed to vent, hit something, _anything_. But he also had his brothers, who were broken and sad. He couldn't show them how angry he was, he needed to keep them strong, especially the younger ones.

Hoseok and Kihyun kept their minds off the bad by reminding them of the good times. Changkyun and Jooheon stuck close, and even suggested that pepero game, knowing Hyungwon would have loved it. And Hyunwoo being the oldest, made sure everything was okay. 

But Minhyuk being a detective, he knew that each of them were hiding something from each other, their broken pieces. But recently Hoseok had been a lot happier. And Changkyun... who all of them had been worried about, had also been a lot better too recently.

Every night they could hear him crying in his room, and every day he looked more and more tired, refusing to sleep. But then he said that Hyungwon had came to him in a dream saying that everything would be okay, and since then he's finally had a good night's sleep.

Hyunwoo even said he heard Hyungwon laughing during their pepero game, thinking he just missed him too much and shrugged it off as his imagination. 

But the thing was... Hyunwoo wasn't the only one that heard it, that sweet laugh. Minhyuk heard it too, but didn't tell anyone. He was thinking the same way Hyunwoo was until he'd said something about it.

And since then he'd been seeing strange things all around the house, around _them_. Things would move in his peripheral vision, he'd sometimes hear things, but it'd be muffled and unclear. Minhyuk wasn't the only one who was experiencing these... _strange_ occurrences, Hyunwoo was too.

Minhyuk was at a loss, but he had a friend who had a thing for this stuff, he'd known him for a while on the force, and he'd gotten close with him. He went over to his station to ask hims for some help. 

He was laying on his chair, bored out of his skull because they hadn't had any big jobs recently. "What's up, Minhyuk?" Minhyuk laughed at the little red haired man sighing heavily in his seat.

" _Please_ tell me you got something fun for me, _please!"_ He looked up at him pleading for something good to ease his boredom, Minhyuk could only laugh at him more. 

"Yeah, I think my house is haunted. You know a lot about that kind of stuff... right, Jimin?" Jimin smiled at him widely, "I may know a thing or two about that~ Tell me more."


	11. Motion - Part 4

"Who is this?" Hoseok and Hyunwoo were surprised when Minhyuk came home with a stranger, "This is my friend, Officer Park, we're colleagues." They gave their greetings to the newcomer, it was rare for Minhyuk to bring anyone home, he wasn't one for making friends easily. 

Minhyuk led Jimin down the hall of their nice sized abode to his room, Jimin analyzing everything about his house and marveling at how decent it was. He whistled, "I need to come to your place more often, hyung~" Jimin sat on one of the two mattresses in the room, seeing a family photo on the nightstand. 

Jimin saw the brother's he'd met before in the living room when he came in and others he remembered from when he'd met up with Taehyung in... the other place. "Who are they, your other brothers?" Jimin asked. Minhyuk smiled at the photo. "Yeah."

Picking it up and sitting next to Jimin, Minhyuk pointed them out. "These are my hyungs, Hoseok and Hyunwoo, you met them earlier in the living room. These are my dongseangs, Kihyun, Jooheon, and Changkyun, the youngest... and..." 

"Who's... he?" Jimin pointed to the tallest of the bunch, his beauty was striking, and he stood out from the other brothers, standing between Jooheon and Kihyun smiling pointing towards the sky. "That... that's Hyungwon. My brother who was hurt in that ... _accident_ a few months back." Jimin felt the tension as he said those words.

_Jimin didn't have the heart nor the proof to tell him that his suspicions were right._

"So back to why we're here. How the hell does this work cause I'm out of my element here." Jimin chuckled at Minhyuk straightforward attitude. That was how he always was, and that's what Jimin liked about him.

He liked Minhyuk a lot, a rare thing.

Minhyuk didn't stick to an irrelevant subject long, and if you crossed him he was _quick_ to flip you off. He was the first to take a dangerous job; he was exceptionally good at it, loving a good fight. His rough exterior hid a very caring interior, however, and it was this that Jimin loved about Minhyuk.

That it wasn't that he was trying to hid it or faked it, but that good, raw purity that every demon lacks could be found in Minhyuk. Being around Minhyuk put him at ease, it made him feel... full. Which is why he felt especially bad when he found out that the emergency meal, that one meal that could satiate them forever, was this man's younger brother.

Of all the humans his hunger could of hurt... it had to be this human?

The demon part of him loved the thrill of the hunt. The demon part of him loved the sound of screams, the smell of fear, the sight of blood. But every living being has a conscience, and his hated his demonic side. Jimin wasn't a full demon, but his other half was so vicious, it made other, full demons look foolish.

Just before he died, his eldest hyung came to him with a deal. In said deal, his shortened life would be spared, and he could get vengeance on those who'd wronged him with the power he offered. And that power would be completely his to command, no strings attached. 

This hyung told him the truth, he never lied. He warned him that if he went through with it, it would change him into the form of the darkest parts of his soul. But Jimin was too angry to care about such things. He ripped his abusers apart slowly, and that was the start of his love of screams and the smell of fear.

That was when he became a Hell Hound, one of the worst of the worst class of demons. Vicious and merciless in the hunt for their prey, uncaring of who they hunt as long as it fills that void inside them. The void of no longer having a soul.

But because Jimin was half. He still retained his conscience, one could say, his _humanity_. Thus him being able to make a connection like the one he had with Minhyuk, one of those rare humans to him. In all of his centuries, he has only made 3 human connections: The first was a lover, the next was with a child, and the last... was Minhyuk.

Who he felt like he was betraying, yet he himself had done nothing wrong. It wasn't him, but he felt wrong because he'd sniffed out the sweet aroma of his younger brother and could not control his urge as a demon to pursue it. He no longer cared for human life, but he cared for Minhyuk's, and thus cared for what Minhyuk cherished, and that was only one thing: 

_His family._

"Hmm... What has been going on exactly? Anything specific happening?" Jimin looked at Minhyuk think on it for a moment. "Things move around sometime, but not enough to actually knock over, but they move and I see them. Multiple times. And I see shadows, or more specifically, A shadow. I hear a muffled voice here and there, and chills like something's near me... do I sound crazy?"

Jimin was shocked by how _well developed_ Minhyuk's sixth sense was! Jimin had caught on before he'd even stepped foot in the house that _something_ was there, demon sense and a hell hound's nose, but Minhyuk was picking it up too! It was crazy because of how rare it was! "No, you actually don't. You may have a haunting on your hands. I can feel it out for you, but everyone would have to leave for me to do it properly..."

"Hoseok has his job at the gym, and Hyunwoo about to leave too... What exactly are you about to do?" Minhyuk turned to him, looking him dead in his eyes. "I'm going ghost hunting." Minhyuk kept staring at him for a moment. "That was the truth. Okay then.. Imma go get some take out, I'll be back in 30, think you can do it by then?"

"That's plenty. My family has a type of... specialty in these things." Minhyuk nodded, he knew that Jimin had a thing for this stuff, so coming to him was the right call, he trusted him like that. "...just don't break anything or get possessed or something." 

They both laughed, and Minhyuk went on his way, Hoseok and Hyunwoo were already gone, and when he heard the door close and the car drive off, Jimin's smile faded. 

His eyes glowed red as his red hair faded to deep black, the air around him began to ripple and shutter at his presence, and a small tear ripped in the space in front of him. He stepped through it, and there he was: back in Limbo.

But when he got there, he was met with the fearful eyes of one of the people he didn't want to fear him. One of the souls he did not want to eat, yet had wanted to eat because of that intoxicating aroma that emanated from them even now, driving the demon side of him insane. But he kept himself composed.

His Essence flame was indeed of a very different variety that he'd ever seen. Unlike normal flames in any state, she wasn't... a flame. She had a humanoid form and was as big as a small child, although she looked full grown in appearance.

Her hair was a flaming white, her skin a cool blue, but quickly changing to a burning lava red. The mere pressure of her existence was enough to make even Jimin back off a bit. No wonder she bested Jungkook the first time they met, even if she was but a normal, tiny fire sprite then. 

"Monster. I dare you come forth and face me!" She roared at him, him feeling the intensity of every word that left her lips. Her form had changed _drastically_ from her calm she had before he'd appeared before them. She charged at him, kicking him to the far side of the room with ease. 

The fact that Jimin felt that immensely made his demon side smile at how much fun this would be, the thrill of having a delicious morsel as this fighting him made him smile. But then he looked back up at the soul, returning to his senses.

The beauty of this man really was striking, if he was an angel I wouldn't be surprised. But this essence of his was unbelievable in the fact that she was putting up a fair fight against him and she was only in the latter _Lacuna_ stages of her development! 

Normally for a soul to put up as even of a fight with him as she was they'd have to be at the first stage of the _Essence Point_ of further, but this one had that strength much sooner!

So this is why they are called rare souls... oh, if only he were just some random soul, if only he were someone else's brother, someone he didn't care about... then he'd take full advantage of this meal... He wondered why he didn't feel it's strong presence before, before he entered Limbo, it was faint, and he actually be inside the house to even faintly feel it...

A barrier? This soul can place barriers? Their a only a _few_ essences that can do that, and it takes _many_ eons to perfect it as well as this one did. There was no way for him to eat this soul, it was too valuable to eat now that he knew this.

The essence hit him with multiple blasts of intense energy, and the soul she governed still with the sweet aroma of fear, a fear that for the first time... Jimin didn't want to smell. 

This was the first time Jimin had ever regretting an act, and having regret disgusted him more than his demonic hunger.


	12. Motion - Part 5

Hyungwon's heart sank into his stomach and he almost puked it out when the infamous Jimin showed his demonic presence and revealed himself to them, his red eyes and black hair and an aura that reeked of blood-lust...

Before, Hyungwon didn't see what was so scary about demons, they looked like normal people... but this energy, that energy that made Hyungwon's knees buckle and urged his need to vomit, if he could actually vomit as a ghost that is.

Essence raged, and it looked as if she was putting up an even fight against him, but that sickening darkness around him only grew with each blow she landed on him, with each drop of blood she drew. Hit after hit, that entity became darker and more sickening. And then their eyes connected, and something else clicked in him.

A foreign feeling in his eyes that caused his demonic presence to lessen, what emotion he was feeling unknown to Hyungwon, and not lessening his fear even a decimal. "I thought y-you said no d-demon could get in Essence!! Why is there a demon h-here, a-and-" The demon makes his way to him, breaking away from Essence for that split second.

Hyungwon was already on his knees, and the demon was staring at him, _through_ him into his core with his glowing red eyes... A look of hunger along with other emotions that he couldn't read because they were just too mashed together,

His eyes calmed, returning to a dark black, "I won't eat you. I _can't_ eat you." He stopped fighting, his aura becoming more docile, but still dangerous all the same, and Hyungwon backed as far from him as he possibly could, Essence getting between them.

He looked at her and vice versa as the stand still held it's ground, her anger at his very presence fueling her further. _"Lies!"_ She rammed him with her fiery horns earning a grunt from him as she pinned him mercilessly to the ground. "You not trusting me is expected, but are you not the younger brother of Minhyuk?! "

"How dare you call his name!" Hyungwon found his rage again as he looked at this demon before him. "Why is a demon around my brother?! What are you planning to do to him! Essence!" She rammed her horns further into him, not allowing him to heal as the heat from her body burned into him, cleansing his demonic presence.

A very painful and rare thing for an Essence to be able to do, which further retracted his doubts, eliminating them completely. Through his wails of pain, he tried to reason with Hyungwon, the dongsaeng of his _only_ friend. Hyungwon had all right to be furious... all right to hate the demon he was seeing before him.

Right now, Hyungwon was a soul. He was prey right now, and that was all on him. But this was his chance, a chance to help him out. "I'm not planning to do anything to him! He's too precious to me!" Essence released her horns from his torso, allowing him to heal a bit. She rushed to his face and stared him down, ramming her hand through him and grabbing his heart.

 _"I am **the Essence** , and you hear me demon. I should kill you wear you lie, for I **know** who **you** are."_ She squeezed, making her point crystal clear. Even if he was the fear Jimin Park, the Hell Hound, this Essence had him in a corner. "Many fear you, but in my current form I am **not** one of them. So **speak** , or **die** this very second." 

Hyungwon was angry, but what that demon said only made his fury skyrocket. "It was my brother's hypnosis that caused that driver to sleep at the wheel and hit your car, and it was my other brother who pulled out your soul and lost it when she came. I didn't know you were Minhyuk's brother, you just... smelled intoxicating."

Hyungwon felt the painful migraine, as if his head was going to explode but he didn't care. "You little shit." Jimin felt himself rise off the ground, along with several other objects in the room. Jimin watched as Essence grew even more, and how her grip on him tightened. Her flames grew even hotter, if that was even possible, "I'm... sorry."

"Essence, **squeeze**." She followed his order, Jimin roaring at the pain it caused as she slowly tightened her hold on his heart. "Why are you here in my house, with my brother, and what do you want from me? If you answer any one of these questions with a lie, I will kill you, and if you hesitate, I will kill you." Hyungwon's tone was dark and thick. He was on another level of pissed off, and he used all of that anger to focus on Motion.

"Minhyuk felt like his house was haunted and asked me to check it out, we're colleagues and friends. I'd never hurt him willingly! And what I want to do is get you back in your body so I don't have to feel this disgusting guilt! I want to help you out and make Minhyuk happy." Essence peered into his very being, cocking her head as she looked back at Hyungwon. _"It is... the truth."_

Hyungwon released his grip on him, and with it fell to the ground under the intensity of his pain. The first stage of Lacuna was unlocked. Everything that had lifted returned to their place in the room, and Essence removed her hand from the demon's chest. "You... want to help me?"

"Yes," Jimin had to catch his breath, him being in quite a bit of pain himself. Taehyung was right about this pair, going after them would have been _suicidal_ , and now she was much stronger than they were, "I'm not you're enemy, at least not anymore. And even then... it was just for survival. A soul like you could soothe mine and my brothers' hunger for ages... it was too good to pass up the chance."

Jimin sat on the bed, his wounds healing. Essence was now about the size of an eight year old child, floating menacingly around Jimin will a deadly glare in her eyes. _"I don't like you, but I understand you. A demon's hunger is the plight they all face, and if not soothed, they will cease to exist. Because of their lack of a soul of their own, they feed on the souls of other beings."_

"It was nothing personal... until it was personal. I may be this feared demon, and trust me, I've made my peace with that centuries ago, but I have a conscience. And I hurt someone I claim to be friends with, a rare friend. Dogs may be man's best friend, but a Hell Hound makes bonds much deeper than that. Which is why I _must_ rectify this mistake." Jimin was fully healed now, and Hyungwon's pain subsided as well.

"Using your anger at me, you were able to get through Motion, correct?" Essence was surprised by his knowledge, "I've ate many souls who were at a higher level, but none were stronger than me until _you_." He smirked, "The hell hound in me want to fight with you more to see how long we can go for... but we can have that fun later." Essence scoffed at his charisma, _"This devil... is a strange one."_

"Yes. My family are a bit... _different_." Hyungwon sat across from him on the bed across from him. Staring at him in both confusion and frustration. "...You. I need you to leave... Frankly, I don't like or trust you." Hyungwon gave him the most done look Jimin had ever seen, and he honestly couldn't blame him for it. "I won't hurt you, but my brothers made no such agreement, if you wish to talk again, you know were to find me. For now, You're antics are scaring your brother, so I recommend you practice elsewhere."

With that, Jimin opened another gate, and re-entered the Living World. Hyungwon tried touching the lingering entrance he'd left, but it rejected his passing through it, and bounced him back.

He truly was stuck there.

He left with Minhyuk, he having just gotten back with their food and they decided to head out and eat away from the house. Leaving Essence and Hyungwon there alone to think on everything that had just happen. The crushing weight of everything crashed down on Hyungwon, and he collapsed slowly to his knees.

But what he'd learn wasn't what was crushing him. Not that he was like this because of Jimin's demonic family, but that darkness he felt inside him as Essence got stronger... that anger in him that felt _so good_ to let out on Jimin. 

Looking at this from Jimin's stand point, it was a completely rational reason to do this. Going after him would have saved him from a grand period of time from his hunger. Which he'd learned is the weakness of all demons.

But it still hurt to know that _he_ was that soul.

Even though Jimin the hound wouldn't be coming after him, as he said, other demons will try it, and they will go after his family as well. Unlike Jimin, they only cared for soothing their hunger, that was the only thing that mattered to them.

When Hyungwon thought about his family, he felt himself wanting to vomit at the realization he'd had about himself: How much he wanted them to _need_ him around, and that it hurt him to see that they were slowly healing, getting used to his _not being there_.

_How much he actually wanted to live... How deep it had sunk in._

He was disgusted at himself for thinking like this... But then that question he'd asked before popped into his head, a question that Essence gave him her answer for, but that he wasn't sure about anymore:

_Is it selfish of me to want to live?_

**_Next: Touch_ **


	13. Touch - Part 1

Kihyun sat alone in his restaurant, it having not been opened since the accident. There were too many memories there, too many that reminded him of Hyungwon. The many bottles of wine began to roll off the table as he poured himself yet another cup full.

He hadn't had the heart to open up the place again, this place was still set up for the little outing they'd planned for that day. Their little get together he wasn't sure they'd ever get to see... Kihyun guzzles yet another cup, deciding to toss it and just drink the bottle. 

After the alcohol finally set in and numbed his aching heart, he decided to go ahead and lock the doors to the closed restaurant and head home on foot. It would give him time to not think about Hyungwon, who'd had yet another seizure just the other day, while he was visiting no less. He had to see him fighting for his life, every second that passes being more painful than the last.

If they just ended it... would he suffer less? How much pain was Hyungwon in right now? Trying not to stumble, Kihyun continues to walk, swaying in and out in a drunken daze. So many what if's and no answers. So many negative thoughts and no closure. So much pain, and not enough alcohol to soothe it.

He was sure that his other brother's noticed it. But as much as they tried to comfort him and pull him out of this hole he was in, just one thought about Hyungwon sent him right back to the bottom again. It was frustrating how depressing this was. Maybe it'd be better to end it? Would it be better to end it?

To feel pain meant you were alive right? Then he was very much alive right now, cause that's all he was feeling. Pain. Heartache. He no longer went to visit Hyungwon at the hospital anymore, he couldn't bear it. He wasn't the one driving, he's not the person that hit them. None of it was his fault, so why did he feel so guilty?

Why did he feel like this whole situation was just so messed up? 

Something wasn't adding up, but Minhyuk personally reviewed every inch of that case, the man that hit them was paying for every single one of their medical bills, but something wasn't right still!

Oh, that's right. Hyungwon wasn't there anymore.

He wasn't there being a living meme like he always was or to wake up with a cough every morning. He wasn't there to eat the food he'd cook or be that glue that held them together. He wasn't there to tell him it was okay when he cried every morning or tell him to not drink every night. 

Hyungwon was fighting for his life everyday in a hospital bed, getting weaker and weaker with every passing day but the doctors don't want to say that he's dying. That's where Hyungwon was.

Kihyun wandered on, making sure he was going the right way to their house. "Just go through the crosswalk and take a left, and then the house is right there at the end of the street," he thought. Honestly, he was too drunk to care. He continued to walk. 

Red. What's a red light got to do with anything. It didn't stop that driver from hitting them, so what's red gonna do to stop him from walking home? Nothing. So he kept walking despite the red "don't walk" sign blinking on either end of the crosswalk.

No one else was there to stop him either, just him, the road, and the cars passing by, honking their horns at him yelling for the drunkard to get out of the road. And then they kept going, not bothering to stop, and Kihyun not caring to listen to them.

A truck. To big for the driver to notice him, began to speed through the road towards him. Kihyun simply stared at the headlights in a daze, remembering how they looked when their car was hit. The lights were just like that, exactly like that. 

Those horrid lights. 

Suddenly Kihyun felt a strong pull yanking him out the way of the incoming truck, a voice ringing in his head that was all too familiar. He looked around frantically, but no one was there. Nothing was there, yet he felt like someone was hugging him tightly. 

He should be scared right. He was being hugged by the air. The air was hugging him, so why is it that instead of screaming, he felt like crying. That he was crying because he knew this hug, that he missed this hug, that this warmth... came from a place he knew and missed.

It let go, pulling him by the hand through the seemingly paused traffic and safely to the other side of the road. And Kihyun stand there, looking upon a smoky silhouette. Why is it that even though it wasn't completely clear, that he knew without a doubt that it was Hyungwon smiling?

"When I wake up... I want to eat at your restaurant." 

Kihyun slowly collapsed to the ground, sliding down the side of the nearest wall. "What kind of hyung am I? Making you worry about me even from your hospital bed... Of course I'll cook for you! I'll make you enough to last a lifetime so... you better wake up, Hyungwon!" The tears didn't stop, the wouldn't stop, they couldn't stop.

His cries filled the open, empty air louder than he'd ever cried before. The pain may still be there, but eventually it would go away. And although his hope was frail and small, even through all of his sorrow, he realized that almost nothing could kill it

"You _have_ to wake up, Hyungwon..."

\----------------------------------------------------

Taehyung watched with a creepy and satisfied smile on his face from the rooftop he sat upon as the little soul he kept close taps on chased away the shadows he'd sent to amplify and absorb the negative emotions of the one they called "Kihyun". He breathed them in with ecstasy written on his face, his eyes going from red to pitch black. 

"Jimin-hyung thinks fear is the best seasoning, for a hell hound, yes, that's true. But for a demon reaper like myself, sweetness," He pulled the chains holding Brit beside him against her will, him having broken the mind control and getting his feisty toy back how she was. "heartache, pain, sorrow, fear," He let his blade like fingers glide down her figure, "... _lust_. Those emotions fuel _me_." 

"What they say about them is wrong... the real monster isn't Jimin, it's _you_!" His eyes grew black once again as he lunged at her, pinning her beneath his own body. The heat off of their skin almost unbearable. "But I know you love me," He kissed her, letting his tongue explore every inch of her mouth, "I can _taste_ it. No matter what you do, you're still my wife, Brit."

She turned away from him as he continued to riddle her neck with hot kisses, "You are all _mine_. Admit that you love the pain I give you already. You deny it with your words... but your body says otherwise you masochist." 

"Sadistic bastard!" He laughed at her enthusiasm, releasing her from his grip, her trying to catch her breath. "Kookie should be at the school by now... I should pay a little visit, and maybe give him something to play with."

"You plan to keep deceiving them?! You heartless monster, how can you?" He smiled at her, a grin that made her skin crawl every time she saw it. "You know I haven't had a heart since _that_ day. _You_ were the main cause of that, do you not remember?" She winced at that fact, knowing full well that him become this monster...

From the gentle soul he once was... was all her fault. A sin she could never rectify. 

It was she that caused Taehyung to fall in love with her, and their blossoming relationship was shunned by the rest of his reaper kind. A Reaper and a Heart Flame could never be, as a reaper was to be without feeling or bias when taking souls. But he refused to let her go, and she the same.

This did _not_ end well, because as a result, he "fell from grace" as they call it. When their want goes against their need, and the balance within them is broken beyond repair. If she didn't do anything, he would have died.

But maybe that would have been better for him?

She as a Heart Flame, bonded with him and it kept him alive, and in Limbo, it is the same as an _eternal_ marriage. But because of what she was, her flames burned away what was left of his heart, and as a result, he became a demon reaper, the only one of his kind _without_ a heart.

Unable to register pain, sorrow, misery, and... love.

And that was the day these horrid _chains_ formed, and his appetite for negative emotions began. His chains take the emotions of others, emotions and feelings he can no longer comprehend, and feed them into his own being as power.

But they are a double edge sword. They only fuel his demonic hunger for them, but because he can not register pain, he does not care for it. He uses that on those he takes control of, making them feel it if they disobey, the crippling agony.

He hides it behind a spiteful and bewitching smile, but he longs to be able to feel that pain that he constantly puts his slaves through. Which is how he became so sadistically masochistic. A heartless monster trying to feel again, yet eternally unable. 

He continued to laugh, "To get what I want, I will do any and everything, even trick them into being my pawns. I've never lied, however. I never do. Now come, I am still hungry. And a school full of students sounds... _delicious_." He continued to laugh as both of them disappeared in the night.

No one noticing that they were ever there.


	14. Touch - Part 2

The day was going awfully slow for Changkyun; classes had been delayed a bit because of odd accidents that had been happening along with the semester changes. It was hectic and frustrating, with everything that was going on with his hyung, Hyungwon... it was hard to concentrate on school.

Just the other day during his visit at the hospital, Hyungwon had yet another seizure. The doctors weren't sure what was causing them, because they believed he didn't have any major head injuries in the crash. His condition was deteriorating, and the doctors told them to brace themselves for the worst.

The worst? What was that supposed to mean? Why would they tell him that, weren't they supposed to do their best to help him live? The only hope he held on to was that dream, and the confidence all of his brothers had in Hyungwon's will to live.

He'd be okay. He had to be oka- "You'll do that for me, Changkyun?" The teacher's sudden announcement broke his train of thought. "I'm sorry... what was it you wanted me to do?" The teacher shook his head, understanding why he was lost in thought. "Can you show the new student here around the campus? I feel that it would be good for you."

The teacher had been very supportive of Changkyun, and had been trying to lift his spirits and distract him from his problems. When Changkyun had been overwhelmingly depressed a few months ago, his homeroom teacher was the one he'd talk with. He reassured him that everything would be okay, and then he had that dream.

And it gave him a bit of hope, however fleeting it was. 

Beside him was a kid that looked really young. He smiled at him, and it made him look like a bunny. A very cute bunny. The class bell rang as Changkyun made his way to them at the front of the room. "I'm Jungkook, It's nice to meet you..." 

"Changkyun." There was an air around this kid, it made him want to keep his distance, but their was also another part of him that didn't seem as... _hostile_. "I'll show you around, and then lead you to your classes, but it seems we share most of them." Changkyun whispered, looking over Jungkook's schedule.

"That works." Jungkook was super laid back, it honestly threw Changkyun off a bit. This kid seemed to not have a care in the world.

"Come on, let's go." Out of the classroom they went and through the hallways they walked. While they were walking and Changkyun was pointing out the different buildings, they had begun a full blown conversation and hit it off rather smoothly, despite how suspicious Changkyun felt around him.

It was like he was hiding something, but he wasn't hiding anything. It threw him for a loop, and made him impossible to read. It was like looking at a double sided paper, it's true that there was nothing on it, but when you flipped it over, the other side is right there staring at you.

Except it was never trying to hide in the first place. That's just how he felt around Jungkook.

He learned that Jungkook had six other brothers just like he did, but that he hadn't seen most of them in a long time. One was a company CEO and another ran a restaurant and he had two others that he wasn't sure where they were. His two closest brothers that are around him all the time live in the city with him, and one of them was a cop just like Minhyuk!

When Changkyun asked where he lived before he moved there to the dorms, he said it was "a place far yet near". Extremely cryptic, but Changkyun wasn't gonna ask further. He liked Jungkook a lot, a free spirited kid. As they got closer, that odd and slightly hostile air around him dissipated. After finishing the tour, they decided to meet up for lunch after classes.

His teacher was right, this was something he needed; A new friend.

\---------------------------------

Jungkook got to the cafeteria earlier than Changkyun did, so he decided to wait for him where he said he always sat. He did feel like eating anything, in fact, the only thing he felt like doing was talking to Changkyun. It was strange... he usually didn't care for humans in the slightest, but this one peaked his interests. 

He particularly didn't have any interests in humans, he didn't hate or love them. To him, they were just meat sacks that stored food inside them in the form of their souls, if they landed in Limbo. He was assigned to watch this human, and at first, he didn't see the purpose in it. But upon meeting him he sensed it.

That sixth sense of his.

It was the same in Jimin's friend, Minhyuk, and the connection he felt with this human was different than any other human he'd met before... Is this what it was to be friends? He wasn't sure. All he understood was that out of all of the humans he'd met, he liked this one a lot.

He'd have to ask Jimin-hyung about it later. Right now he had other problems.

Changkyun was late. 

Jungkook got up from the table and went to search for him. He was good at committing things to memory, things that he liked and things he didn't care for, so memorizing the places Changkyun had took him to was relatively simply. But the sounds he heard as he got closer to his target made him feel something... very negative.

Who was Changkyun arguing with, and why did he smell trace amounts of blood? He turned the corner to find a sight that made him slightly... mad. Changkyun was defending another human, and it looked as if this human was being beaten by a group of bigger humans, most likely a grade above them.

And since Changkyun stepped in, he was now the one being targeted. Jungkook felt something _snap_.

"Yah... who said you could touch him? He's mine..." Jungkook whispered under his breath, closing in on the three big seniors. "Who ar-augh" Before any of them could blink in his direction Jungkook wailed him in his jaw, sending a tooth flying in the opposite direction.

"How dare you touch him?" The other two looked upon the older as he was laid out on the ground, the punch knocking him out effortlessly. "Yah! Who do you think you are?!"

"I'm going to enjoy this..." The boys glared at Jungkook but immediately regretted that action. The look in his eyes... it wasn't normal. They could of sworn they were changing to red from the dull brown they were, and the way he was looking, that was all he was seeing: Red. Without much choice, they charged at him, but that too was something they would regret.

All they knew was that they didn't have time to react before he was on them, breaking their hands in his insane grip even though they were balled into firm fists. Their heads began to spin with the intense pain that followed, but he didn't give them time to scream. The wind was knocked out of them as they were slammed into the bone of Jungkook's knees, forced to puke up the lunch that hadn't yet digested.

When they looked up again at the nightmare before them, their terror was solidified. 

He was smiling, watching them in agony, he was smiling from ear to ear. Like a bunny out of a horror film. "This would be more fun if you could run... But I'm too pissed to let you. You hurt him, so this is only fair, right?" His laughter made the chills going down their spines worse than they thought possible. They were sure they were about to die in that moment.

But as Jungkook advanced, a hand on his shoulder stopped him dead. "Please... that's enough." He was in full berserker mode, but that tone of voice, that voice trembling in fear of him. He did not want it. His nerves calmed, his anger ceased, and holding his hand he was lead out of the secluded hallway.

"Did I... scare you, Changkyun?" He lead them swiftly down the hall in silence until he was sure they were alone. And then turned to face him. "No... you didn't actually. They deserved _every_ bit of that." He kept looking around to make sure there was no one around. "Then what?"

"You're eyes they're... _red_."

"Crap... crap crap crap." He quickly covered them, running to the bathroom where he could look in the mirror. Bright red. His eyes were _bright_ red. "Oh no... well... um... You know what, forget it. Yeah, I'm a demon, let's be friends."

"You're a _what?_ "


	15. Touch: Part 3

The cat was officially out of the bag, his eyes were glowing red and they weren't planning on returning to normal anytime soon, so why try to lie? He half expected Changkyun run, the other half thinking that maybe he'd laugh and say he was insane, but instead... Changkyun looked... _intrigued_ after his initial batch of confusion. "I want to know everything!"

"I don't mind telling you... but can we go somewhere more private than a public bathroom?" Changkyun looked around, realizing where they were. He took Jungkook by the hand, leading him through the halls and up flights of stairs, "I know the perfect place." Going through a few double doors, they reached the peaceful heights of the roof. No one ever went up there, there were no cameras, and it was quiet with an amazing view. 

"Wow... this place is nice. You come up here often." Changkyun went to a spot in the middle of the open space, beckoning Jungkook to sit beside him. "Yeah, before they graduated to the next building over there," he pointed to another campus adjacent to their own, "My older brother, Jooheon, and his friend Yoongi would come up here with me. That's half the reason I'm not scared of you, because Yoongi was a-"

" _You know Yoongi-hyung?_! A little on the short side, gummy smile, incredibly introverted, has a thing for fire- _that_ Yoongi?!" Changkyun shot up and looked at him, "He's one of your brothers?!" Jungkook's eyes lit up at the thought, "Yes!" He hadn't seen Yoongi in years since he and his four other hyungs decided to live on this side. Then the realization hit him about the predicament he was in. "Crap..."

"What? What's wrong? Why the face?" Jungkook finally sat down beside Changkyun, the most serious expression on his face that he'd seen since the fight earlier. "Changkyun, I'm going to tell you what I know, because I hate keeping secrets. But be warned, what I'm about to say to you will not be pleasant to hear..." His tone alarmed him greatly, just what was Jungkook about to tell him?

"The reason why I'm here was to investigate the strange movements of the smaller demons in this area, and to protect a certain soul from them and his family. See, this soul is special to us, because he was so pure. And because of a mistake I and my brothers made, he ended up in that state. In Limbo."

"What's Limbo?" Jungkook looked out into the distance, Changkyun not liking this feeling of foreboding he was getting from his words. "It is a place near, yet far. The space where souls wander, and the feeding grounds to us demons. We devour souls to live because we don't have one of our own to sustain us. A hunger that my brother Tae wanted to rid us of. So when he found that soul, he told me to use my power to put a certain driver to sleep."

He bit his lip, not wanting to continue, but needing to. "That soul that the driver hit was the pure soul, and if we got that soul, then we wouldn't feel this hunger anymore. I was the one who pulled that soul out, but it felt so _wrong_. I was... _happy_ when it's essence warded me off and it got away from us. And the reason I'm telling you this now, is because it turns out that soul... was your brother, Hyungwon."

Changkyun backed up from him unconsciously, not sure how to take this information. Jungkook felt _worse_ , but this was something Changkyun _needed_ to know if he was going to consider being friends with someone like _him_. "Our hunger to us is the same as air to you, we need to feed, or we fade away to nothing. But your brother's soul would've cured that. We would be free... but that isn't how I want to be free. if I had to kill such a soul as he, then I would rather die myself. Your brother has a chance to come back, he is fighting, right now. And I plan to help him as much as i can."

Changkyun didn't want to hear anymore. it was too much. He wanted to hit Jungkook with all he had, scream at him to bring his brother back, but he _already_ looked to be in so much pain... and he was _already_ trying to bring him back. "If you still wish to be friends with a _demon_ like me, then meet me here tonight," His eyes began to glow red, and his light brown hair began to darken until it was pitch black, a portal to dimension of gray appeared and Jungkook began to step through it, "I'll be waiting for your answer, and if you don't come, I'll understand why." 

With that, he stepped through, and disappeared as if he was never there.

Changkyun had to take in that his new friend was responsible for the driver that hit his family. he had to take in the _whys_ and _hows_ and and _everything_ else, and he had to take in the fact that he _already_ had an answer, and whether that would make his brother, who was _fighting_ for his life because of this, angry with him. 

\---------------------------------

Jungkook stepped into the land of Limbo, he was in the same place, yet wasn't anymore. He could still see Changkyun, on the verge of tears as he knew he'd just dropped a massive bomb on him. "I should go talk with Yoongi about this..." He left for the building he remembered Changkyun talking about, heading down those stairs and through those double doors, out onto the campus grounds until he reached the building.

Flickers of of light in the distance, that _had_ to be him.

Soon enough, Jungkook reached an abandoned gymnasium, and sure enough, there was Yoongi, engulfed in his usual flames. "Kookie? Is that you?!" He flashed him his famous gummy smile, "What are you doing here?!" Jungkook ran up and gave him a hug, stepping back immediately to pat himself off, the embrace almost burning his clothes. "Your still as _warm_ as always, hyung."

After catching up on good old times, family hunts and how he always burned their food, and Yoongi telling him about how he's been since living there and nagging him to make sure he came and visited every once in a while, he finally cut to the chase. "Kookie... what's bothering you? You always have a reason to seek someone out."

"Heh, yeah... although it's nice to see you again, I _did_ come here for a reason, _two_ , actually." Jungkook took a deep breath, and Yoongi waited patiently for him to spill. "I made... a friend. But I wronged this friend before I even knew we'd be friends. And now I'm not sure if I can keep him. So I was wondering how you'd deal with this? You're friends with his brother, Jooheon."

"So you became friends with Changkyun? That's nice. He knows a little bit about us thanks to that sixth sense of his, found me out almost as soon as I got here... I had gotten pissed off cause some dumbass kept invading my space. Turned out he was the class bully. And I may or may not have set his room ablaze and the whole campus had to evac."

"Ha! That sounds like something you'd do." Yoongi nodded, "and Changkyun caught me doing it, so that's how he found out. Jooheon doesn't know though, and he promised he wouldn't tell him until I felt like it. He's a good kid." Yoongi turned and looked at Jungkook, an eyebrow raised as a realization hit him. "This wouldn't have anything to do with their hyung, Hyungwon, would it? That accident he was in-"

"Yes. Hyungwon was a pure soul, and we tried, and failed, to get him. He got away from us, and is now attempting to get back into his body. I regret that action deeply... even more now that I know that it was Changkyun's brother."

"The hunger?" Jungkook nodded, "Taehyung thinks he's found a way to rid me and Jimin of it once and for all. I know that you, Hobi, Jin, and Namjoon aren't affected by it, and Tae is a reaper, so he doesn't need souls.. but me and Jimin-hyung..." Yoongi patted him on the back, "I understand, and you told Changkyun the truth? I know how you are. You don't hide _anything_ from those you value. I know all too well how strong the hunger can be, I've seen it tear demons apart."

"So how do I fix this?! I'm trying to keep Changkyun safe from the little demons that have been following him, and Jimin has his friend who's another brother of his... I'm helping him as best I can but because this was partially my fault... it feels like nothing would be good enough to resolve this... His brother could-"

"But you're trying. And I bet Changkyun knows you are. It may take time, but your doing fine just as you are. Keep doing what you have been, stay close to him. If I know anything about that kid, it's that he has a big heart. I remember when it happened, Jooheon didn't come to school for _weeks_. The only thing you can do is be there for him, that's what I did for Jooheon. That's how you can make it up." 

Jungkook nodded, sighing in slight relief that all hope wasn't lost for this new friend he'd found.

"The second thing was..." Jungkook wasn't sure how to put this second issue into words. This foreboding he felt. "There something going on with Taehyung. He never liked to hunt, but after those chains of his appeared, he does it more and more often. That essence that's always with him, Brit, she tried to come to me once for _help_. But before she could finish telling me, he bound her with those chains."

"He hit his own _wife_ with those _things_?! He used to rave and rant about not letting anything come near her he loved her so much, and he did that?! Your right.. that doesn't sound like him _at all..._ What did she say to you?" Jungkook remembered the words clearly. "All she had time to say was "Don't let him find the garden, or all will be lost." And something else about her sisters, but he chained her before she got that far."

"It sounds to me like Taehyung is _hiding_ something. But _what_ and _why_ I wouldn't be able to tell you." Yoongi shrugged. "This seems to be more _Namjoon's_ area of expertise, and he's out on business with his company. You know that."

"Yeah. But it's more than just him hiding something. He's... different. It's like he's... _someone else_."


	16. Touch: Part 4

Minhyuk and Jimin had been on a special job for a few weeks now. A bunch of gang related activities were being brought in, and because the force was busy handling other cases that had been piling up, from strange death and mysterious accidents, they were the only ones available to check things out.

After much research and other things, connecting the dots and asking around, they found out that their was a gang boss in the area calling the shots, and after more information was had, they had a place and a date for the next gang related incident to happen. Apparently, this gang delt in the drug ring, and had been suspected of a lot of other violent crimes. tHe police force had names, faces, and tons of evidence to send these guys to prison, but they hadn't yet caught them.

They were just too slippery, always being just a step ahead of them... Until now. Now, they had them. But it was all about the timing, so Minhyuk and Jimin had to lay low for those few weeks until the perfect opportunity came, and that day was today: the transaction. From their gathered intel, the gang was to meet up here to pick up a shipment of drugs and weapons, and because of the valuables, the boss himself was coming too.

They had back-up, now the only thing they had to do was lie and wait for the prey to take the bait.

While they were waiting, Jimin wasn't sure what to talk about. It seemed that Minhyuk had been especially stressed about something lately, but he wasn't talking about it. So Jimin decided he'd just ask him. A Hellhound can smell the emotions that emanate from humans and souls, it's how they hunt, and this smell was bothering Jimin greatly. "What's wrong, Min? I know something's bothering you."

"Nothing. Just the usual worries that I want to get rid of, that's all..." He continued to look out the window of the disguised police car they were in, laying low as he carefully watched the warehouse for any movement. "You're not telling me everything, I can _smell_ it." Minhyuk looked at him, "You and that expert _nose_ of yours I swear.... Okay. Okay I'll tell you."

"I'm listening." Jimin smiled, his nose had never failed him. "I've been trying to... accept that... Hyungwon might not wake up." A bomb, and emotional _mine_ , _that's_ what Jimin had just stepped on. This was something he needed to fix, and he needed to fix it _yesterday_. He wasn't sure what he could say to him, he felt like anything coming from his lips wouldn't mean much of anything.

Considering it was his family's fault he had to deal with those feelings.

"Min, I-" 

_"They're here!"_ He whispered, both of them quickly ducking down inside the car as they watched the black vans arrive. A lot of people who were on the list of suspects were there as well as people who were convicted and others with felonies under their belt. After hours of waiting, their info was spot on. _"It's time, let's go!"_ Quickly and quietly, the police made their way into the building, guns at the ready. The exchange was going down just as their information stated, and the gang was none the wiser of their presence.

"Hands up where I can see them!" Until the _idiot_ with a badge decided to ruin the entire plan by giving that away.

Alerted and armed, the gang members fired their guns, charging at the police with the full intent to kill. "Finally, something fun." Jimin charged, swiftly maneuvering around the crate maze as easily as he could breathe. Minhyuk watched in awe as the small man took down one after another with ease, laughing as they actually started to get scared of him.

"Leave some for _me_ you _beast!"_ Minhyuk jumped into the fray, and the duo took care of each other's blind side. Hand to hand combat was something Minhyuk excelled at, and Jimin made it look as if he were dancing on a stage with how graceful he was, how nimble and well balanced he was.

"This is the most fun I've had in months. Help me--" Minhyuk delivered a decisive punch to the chen, knocking the receiving party out like a light--"Punch off some steam before you all go to prison." Jimin smiled at Minhyuk, every thrown punch and landed kick making him happier. He knew he took to this human for a reason, that smile on his face as he took down bad guys left and right with him said it all. This was what he needed, not words.

He needed to _punch_ out his feelings. 

But a stray gunshot quickly turns the tables, and they take cover again behind the crates as more shots are fired. Jimin covers his mouth and nose with his hand as the smell of Minhyuk's blood begins to fill his senses. The stray hit his arm, leaving a deep gash in it. He quickly tied his wound off with a piece of his shirt, turning away as soon as he finished. 

His eyes were beginning to glow, his anger was skyrocketing. All of these were extremely bad to be happening in front of the one person he _didn't_ want to see it, _Minhyuk_. Restraining himself became more and more difficult as the other people in the room got hit with bullets, the sound of screams, all of the things his hellhound side _reveled_ in. "Jimin? Jimin what's wrong?! Did you get hit?!"

"Nothing... it's nothing." Jimin's voice had gone low and dark like a deep growl, and his tone was highly agitated. "This took a turn for the worst. Stay here, I got this. I gotta punch off my own steam...."

Jimin walked into the crowd of criminals, letting loose all of his pint up stress. Stress was not a word he was fond of, and right now that was all he was feeling. The other police officers took care of the ones trying to escape, and Jimin decided to handle the big ones. "Don't bore me..."

The first of the bunch charged at him, guns blazing. But they stopped at the horrid sight that came next. Jimin's smile grew more and more sinister as the bullets that landed slowly fell to the ground, not even having broke skin. And a laugh escaped him lips as his eyes began to burn red.

"W-what are y-you?!" They back up from him, only him and the them in the building now. "Me?" His hair went from strawberry red to pitch black, and his entire demeanor flipped, "I'm just someone who will enjoy... making you _scream_..."

The sounds Minhyuk heard from behind the crate sent shivers down his spine. It was as if a nightmare was being described in cries of terror and agony. He could hear gunshots being fired, and he could almost _taste_ the fear in the room. It made him want to get up to see what was going on. He needed to help his partner! But the moment he tried to, the pain in his arm hit him like a slap to the face.

He fought through it, grabbing his gun. He needed to know what was going on, if Jimin was okay, and how bad their situation was right now. Just then he felt a cold chill run across both of his arms, and before he knew it, he was _sitting_ again. "What the hell...?" He tried again, only to end up with the same result.

~~_"Stay put Minhyuk!"_ ~~

"Who's there?!" He pointed the gun in the direction of the voice. He was sure he heard it. He pointed his gun in every direction, ready to shoot whatever moved. But nothing, there was nothing there. That chill hit him again as something wrapped around him; it felt like an _arm_ wrapped around him. An arm he couldn't see.

_~~"Just stay here, everything will be fine."~~ _

Again, that muffled, familiar voice. It couldn't be, but he was sure he recognized that voice. When he turned again, the shock he felt was unbelievable. It wasn't a clear image, but it didn't have to be clear for him to know who was sitting beside him. It didn't need to be clear who was in agony beside him, trying to speak more words as he disappeared from view over and over again.

~~_"No matter what happens, or what happened. Don't hate. I'll get... through this. So you get through it too."_ ~~

With that, he disappeared again, and the chill of his presence was gone, and the screams and gunshots from the battle that was raging had ceased. When Minhyuk finally got from behind the crate, everything was over and the criminals were in cuffs, taken to the station for sentencing. And Jimin stood without so much as a scratch on him, but a dissatisfied expression on his face.

And his eyes... he could of sworn that for a split second they were _red_.

Nothing was making sense, nothing. Minhyuk needed answers, and his gut kept pointing to Jimin for answers. Why? He wasn't sure, but it had never led him wrong. And it seemed like Jimin had been wanting to tell him something for the _longest_. When they got back to the car, Minhyuk's wound being treated by the ambulances that came, there was a defining silence as the awkward atmosphere began to build.

"Um... something happened in there... I could of sworn I saw my _brother_ in there... and you- No, I'm going nuts. Imma go get checked out in the morning." He was about to start the engine and head home when Jimin stopped him. "No. You aren't nuts. What you saw was _real_ , and so was this." 

Jimin's eyes darkened as the red tint began to show, and Minhyuk was shocked, but then calmed his nerves. He breathed out and his eyes returned to normal, and the regretful expression he wore on his face made Minhyuk's gut turn. "You might _hate_ me for this... But I'm fully prepared for that now. You have lots of questions, and I... have answers for _all_ of them. About me, what you saw, and... your brother's accident. It was partially my fault he ended up like he is now, and I-"

Minhyuk grabbed Jimin by the collar. He didn't care if he was human or some monster, foe, or friend in that moment. "You tell me _everything_ you know **_right now_** or I'll spend _every_ waking hour of _every_ day trying to _kill you."_

_**Next: Lacuna** _


	17. Lacuna: Part 1

Essence was now taller than he was now, and aside from her being that pale blue that she always was, she looked almost human! But the price of her continued growth was now in full swing, and Hyungwon couldn't fathom how much pain his body was in right now: his head felt like it was exploding and his body burned with everything he touched or moved. 

He mastered _Motion_ thanks to Jimin, and after watching how far he was willing to go to protect Minhyuk, had forgiven him for his past mistakes... _partially._ Enough to at least let them stay friends if Minhyuk didn't _kill_ him first. Saving Kihyun and keeping Minhyuk from going into a gunfight with a bad arm helped him to get past the _Touch_ phase.

But because he'd passed those blocks, he was now at the _Lacuna Point_ in his spirit form: the last point that would allow him to access his Essence Point, and the pain he felt from reaching the front door to that stage _alone_ was _mind-numbing_. 

_"I know it's painful. Your spirit and body have reached the point where your wavelengths will start to align again."_ It was like his body was being torn to bits by his own nerves caving in on each other. Tossing and turning on the ground, screaming his ears off until he couldn't hear himself anymore, none of it helped to ease the agony. 

If there really was a hell, then it had absolutely _nothing_ on the pain he was in right now.

The only thing Essence could do for him was to wrap him in her arms, letting him cry into her shoulder as the pain finally began to go away. It had been eight months since Hyungwon became trapped in Limbo, and in those eight months he's had to endure trial after trial of pain, sorrow, and the _bitter_ reality of his situation. Although Jimin had been trying to repent, that did not erase the fact that he was in this hell because of them.

And he couldn't deal with the amount of hate he held towards them. Every waking moment here was _kill or be killed;_ demon sprites and other lower class demons would come to attack him and Essence, and with the power he gained he was able to fight them off without Essence's help, but _that_ just meant he was killing a being that was just trying to _live._

_No matter how it looked, he was killing to live just like they were._

Demons were still _living creatures_ , no matter what they had to do to stay that way. Their existence itself was unfair and harsh, and thus they had to do and accept things that no normal person would have to _just to survive._ So every time he had to kill one, or Essence had to, just to keep themselves _safe_ , he felt like he was losing a piece of his _humanity_.

"If you still feel pain, that's how you know you're alive... right?" He looked at Essence, exhausted as the tears kept falling. "I'm in pain... so why do I feel so lifeless? It's like pieces of myself are being torn from me the longer I stay here..." Essence sat up, lifting up Hyungwon's chin as now she was bigger than him. _"What you are thinking **isn't** wrong. With each power you gain, and the longer you stay here, Limbo eats away at you. That is one of the many reasons this place is synonymous with the term **'oblivion'** "_

Hyungwon sat for a moment to think on everything she was saying as she continued to comfort him with her presence. Everything she had said, and everything she's ever done for him. Essence had been there for him since _day one_ , protecting and teaching him everything she knew. She'd been trying just as hard, if not _harder_ to get him home, no matter how much she had to fight or do. 

Without even realizing it, she had become a constant for him, and just leaving her here in this hell alone after all of that just seemed wrong. But that just brought him to another question.

"Essence, _why_ do all of this for me? What could you gain from helping me, a useless soul that's the target of so many bad guys?" The light blue, slightly giant flame sprite, beautiful with the same color eyes and smokey hair, smiled that same warm smile she always wore when she looked at him. 

He'd noticed that while they weren't fighting, she smiled more often. The longer he was around her, the more he'd see that beautiful curve in her lips. _"Because it's **you** , Hyungwon. The grays of Limbo, a place I have always been, always **dreaded** , are... how do I explain it? ...Beautiful. They are **beautiful** as long as I have **you** with me, and to protect that beauty, to protect you, it is all I have come to need. So..."_

"What? What is it?" She leaned in, making sure she was at eye height with him. The subtle warmth of her skin was something he had come to _love_. It made him feel safe even in the harshest of places, knowing that she was close to him. _"I wish to come with you. In that world you so wish to return to, I want to-"_ His eyes widened, "Of course! If you didn't ask I would've! How though?"

_"I have my ways. It's funny... I've never had any urge to leave this place, never had any need or want before. After I was born, I guided one soul after another without much purpose. Until **you**. You are special to me, and this feeling... I know I have known it once before... a **long** time ago." _

There it was again, that familiar feeling he felt looking upon her. It wasn't a question about wanting her to come. He _needed_ her to come with him to his world. He wanted to show her how beautiful a world can be; he wanted to take her everywhere he'd ever been, meet his brothers, and give her a life that she deserved. It was a feeling that only got stronger the more time he spent with her.

In a way, he was _grateful_ to have been hit in that accident, because if that hadn't of happened, he would of never met this wonderful being named Essence. But, that didn't subjugate the anger he felt deep inside of him. 

Not in the slightest.

Suddenly, she scooped him up in her arms like a whole baby, Hyungwon being surprised by the action himself. Essence just smiled, wanting to show off her strength. _"Come, maybe going to see your brothers will make you happier. If we can get you out of here without a hitch, everything should return to normal."_ Her confidence in those words was reassuring, but the rage he felt deep within himself did not subside.

He wanted this to end, he _needed_ this to _end_. And even though he felt that the end to this hell was coming _soon_ , he wasn't sure if that end would be good for _him_... or _them_.

\-------------------------------------

Changkyun had been mulling over all of the facts he could find based on his own knowledge and what Jungkook had told him. He knew about the demonic hunger thanks to Yoongi, having found him out when he _accidently_ set fire to the place. It was a problem that his family had been trying to solve for _forever_ , but he himself wasn't afflicted with it because his own soul remained _intact_.

He'd told him that it had something to do with _how_ they became demons.

Those that were born into it weren't affected by it like those cursed or otherwise. So he guessed that Jungkook wasn't a born demon, but a _created_ demon due to some unfortunate circumstances. He wasn't sure of the entire story, but he could guess that much. And it seemed there were a lot more _created_ demons than there were _born_ demons, which is why this seemed to be a _common_ , yet _serious_ problem for their race.

And it seemed that over the many years of trying to solve that problem, the only solution found was to eat a _pure soul_ , which his brother Hyungwon was _unlucky_ enough to be. And during that famous _"wrong place, wrong time"_ moment, and in desperate need, what was an unfortunate accident for _them_ was a blessing for Jungkook and his family. He felt that he could level with them on that front; If it was one of his brothers going through that torture, he would risk it too.

But that didn't change the fact that it was _his_ _brother_ that was the target, and it didn't change the fact that everything about this was _wrong_ , from _every_ angle! But if they could just find another way that didn't involve taking an innocent life, all of this could go away. But... that was just wishful thinking.

But what if there _was_ a way to fix their problem? Then what happened to them would never happen to anyone else! Both sides wouldn't have to suffer anymore! 

Then it hit Changkyun, a memory. 

When he'd found out about Yoongi, of course he was curious about what he was, the facts and folklore, myths and legends, anything that revolved around what he was. So he went searching through every book related to it that he could find.

And he _did_ come across something, that at the time, didn't seem _relevant_. But with what Jungkook told him, and his own knowledge and theories, that small passage began to _make a bit of sense._ He needed to know more, so off to the library he went, off campus on the older side of town. It was a place no one went to anymore, but the quiet and solitude made it much easier to concentrate on what he was looking for.

On the shelf at the back of the building, there they were. This library had many old books pertaining to the _supernatural world,_ but the book he was looking for was the _oldest_ of them. "Here it is." It was worn, and some of the letters in the words were too faded to see, but he read what he could:

_"L-li-h, having left the great gard-n, made a s-nctuary of her own in L-m-o, the place beyond life, yet before death. Her lover, S-m-el, fell from gr--e, becoming a human with a **pure soul** , loving her until the day he passed. _

_When she passed, her body bec-me The T-ee o- B-g-nnin-s, a place where the **soulless** gain anew what was lost to them. But her own soul split into three flames, and locked all who would seek her out from her garden. _

_Every few centuries, -a-mae-'s soul is reincarnated, and is sought out by the **incomplete**. A da-kn-ss without a h-art. Only he can reopen the sacred plain once again, for all who seek to be whole. Their s-uls hold the lo-k and k-y."_

Closing the book, and knowing no one was in the library, the place basically being abandoned, he took the book into his backpack and headed back to campus. "I don't know for sure... but I think I may be on to something."


	18. Lacuna: Part 2

Jungkook waited on that same rooftop for Changkyun to meet him. He was nervous, not having much hope in him showing up, but still hoping in the back of his mind. With him being early, it gave him time to think about everything that's been going on, and everything that was _strange_.

Since that brief meeting he, Jimin, and Taehyung had in the white rose garden all those weeks ago, Jungkook hadn't heard from or seen Tae. For Jimin, that was normal, since he had a life in the human world. But for Tae who used to always check in every day to make sure they were okay? 

No, not one bit. 

Jungkook acted normally around them, but only to observe Taehyung and his odd behavior. Just like when he was torturing his poor wife who used to mean everything to him before they'd got there, or how he'd hunt souls with them that he didn't need. The appearance of his sadistic, and even slightly masochistic personality that was nothing like how he used to be. And his manipulative... and even scary... persona that had grown. 

All of these happenings started occurring after he bonded with Brit, whom he still couldn't figure out the reason she came to him. It ate at him. It wasn't like he didn't know Brit at all and she was a stranger, she was his brother's wife! But the way he treated her now, and the expression she wore gave him a feeling of foreboding.

As a demon, that feeling is _never_ a good one, and _never_ ignored. Which is why he started watching Taehyung closer afterwards.

"Hehe, what do we have here?" Jungkook turns, having been too lost in thought to notice that he had an audience. It was those three older looking boys, all of them wearing casts and braces from where he'd broken their limbs. "You are very stupid to show your faces to me. You must _want_ to die?" They flinched, visibly scared, but trying their best to hide it as more men came in, this time making him flinch because of who they were holding.

HIs eyes instantly shone red with his rage. "What have you done to Changkyun!!" A lot of them looked as if they had a tough time, but Changkyun was the one knocked out, bruises on his face and body, trace amounts of blood from those he'd hit and where he'd been hit. But this smell on him... he wasn't knocked out by these guys, they'd _drugged_ him! "I'LL MURDER YOU!"

Jungkook rushed at the injured one's, knowing that they were the ones behind this, they had no way to avoid him and he broke through their casts with his bare hands, squeezing their already broken arms, ignoring their screams. That's when the one man holding Changkyun, near the door and farthest from him, began to move to the edge. "Monster! I'll throw him over the edge!!" 

_"Monster?"_ Jungkook scoffed. "You humans seem to be confused," his eyes glew red, his hair grew dark, and the aura around him became thick with bloodlust and hatred as a fang filled smile crept across his face, "I am a _demon_ , not a monster." The chills that collectively went down their backs could not be compared to anything else they'd ever felt before. But keeping Changkyun by the edge made it hard for him to get close to them.

When humans are scared, they do twisted and horrid things and call it _justice_.

So they were at a standstill; Jungkook couldn't get close to _them_ because they had Changkyun, and _they_ couldn't get close to _him_ or _leave_ because Jungkook would tear them limb from limb if they tried. There was no way for them to hurt _him_ , but they _could_ hurt Changkyun, and that was a problem. And even though he'd _eat their bones_ if they _did_ hurt him, he'd still be hurt.

Him being stuck like this because he cared for a human. Honestly, he couldn't regret this feeling even if he wanted to. He'd bonded with this human, and no situation his caring for him put him in would change that fact. 

Changkyun began to stir, the drug finally wearing off and he slowly becoming aware of the situation. Jungkook looked furious in his demonic form, not caring who saw him, and the bullies that were holding him were scared, yet holding their ground. 

They were _dumb_ enough to try _holy water_ and other things on him to try and keep him back, but this wasn't like a movie where _stuff from the store_ would work. And they figured that out a little _too_ late.

But there was something else there... a chill in the air that almost _stung_. And it _wasn't_ coming from Jungkook. There was sadness, bitterness, and irrefutable _rage_ in it, and _behind_ Jungkook, he could see it. A form that was blurry and transparent, and a large _blue_ fire beside it that was even dimmer to him. 

Before he could blink, the guy that was holding him hostage was lifted and twisted in the air, thrown against the fences in a motionless heap. His arms were broken, and the utter pain from that knocked him out.

Jungkook looked as if he could _clearly see_ and hear what Changkyun was having trouble to, but his sixth sense made it possible for him to just barely view what was happening. One by one, scream by scream, the bullies were being taken out by something _they_ _couldn't_ see, and Jungkook was being kept at bay by the blue flame he dared not to try and fight.

~~**_"How dare you hurt him?!"_ ** ~~

Changkyun's eyes shot up as he recognized that voice immediately. It _couldn't_ be... but there was no way to mistake it! The bullies ran for their lives from the rooftop, screaming for forgiveness and mercy as they took the one that had held him captive and the others that were knocked out far from the scene. 

Changkyun thought it was over, but instead of that feeling of rage subsiding, it grew.

And it was aimed at _Jungkook_.

~~**_"This is all your fault!"_ ** ~~

"You are-" It gave him _no time_ to explain himself, _no time_ to speak at all. _No time_ to counter, _no time_ to breathe, _no time_ to even _move._ Hit after hit after hit after hit after hit, all across the rooftop it slung and flung Jungkook like a ragdoll in it's _full_ intent to _kill_ him. ~~**_"Why are you here with my brother?! Why are you and yours anywhere near my family after what you did to me?!"_**~~

"I'm sorry! But I-" It grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up into the air, Jungkook fighting to get free but to no avail. ~~**_"Look at me! What could I do with your "sorry", huh?! What the hell could that mean to me now?!"_**~~ It slammed him into the ground, still holding on to his neck and squeezing it until Jungkook's now bloodied face became blue. ~~**_"Everywhere I go I'm fighting to live, killing to live, and for what?! Because you were hungry?!"_**~~

Punch after punch echoed into the night, Changkyun's eyes filling to the rim with tears as it sunk in that there was _no_ denying it. His sixth sense became more focused, and the image became more clear. The entity beating Jungkook into the ground was indeed his brother, _Hyungwon_. 

_And it seemed that he was in pain as his image became clearer._

" ~~ ** _I'm suppose to forgive you after hearing your story? I'm suppose to just forgive you for my suffering every hour of every day here in this hell?!"_**~~

Changkyun picked himself off the ground, finally being able to fully move from the drug wearing off, and ran over to the horrid scene that was unfolding. Before another punch could land, he grabbed Hyungwon's ghostly arm, feeling the bitter cold of his presence. 

There was _no_ warmth of life, he was deathly pale with bloodshot eyes from how much he'd been crying. Hyungwon turned to Changkyun, his anger and pain all too clear.

~~**_"Why are you stopping me?! Let me go, Changkyun! He and his family did this to me! He put you and everyone I love in danger! Why would you-"_ ** ~~

"T-this is wrong, hyung! This is all wrong!! You have to stop, or you'll kill him!" Hyungwon's anger was skyrocketing until the moment he and his brother's eyes made direct contact. The fear he saw, it wasn't because of Jungkook, it wasn't because of the bullies... right now, Changkyun was afraid of _him_. He looked down, seeing the amount of damage he'd done to that poor kid. He was healing quickly, but if he was _human_ , he would of been _long_ dead. 

~~_"Oh my god... what am I doing? This isn't me. Changkyun..."_~~ He reached for him, but a reflex made Changkyun _back away_ from his approach. Changkyun _immediately_ realized what he'd just did as Hyungwon's tears were now clear for him to see. His image was now _crystal clear,_ as if he were standing _right there_. 

_And he was._

Hyungwon looked down, an expression of utter defeat on his face. ~~_"I'm so sor- **argh!"**_~~

"Hyungwon!!" Changkyun raced over to him, his ghostly body pulsing as that odd blue flame glew brighter and brighter. As he got to him and held him up, Hyungwon began to disappear again, fading like smoke back into the gray of Limbo. Holding tight to his chest, the amount of pain he seemed to be in was something Changkyun couldn't _stand_ to see, and soon, he wasn't moving at all, and faded completely from all view. _"Hyung!!"_

He looked around everywhere, sixth sense and all, but all traces of Hyungwon were gone. Jungkook finally got up from the ground, having finally healed enough to do so. Changkyun quickly ran to him, checking his wounds and watching as they slowly healed, but everything that had just happened began to set in. The pit of his stomach began to sink as his phone began to ring.

Changkyun answered his cell phone on the roof; Minhyuk answered the call at the station; Hyunwoo, Hoseok, and Kihyun were at home when a call came; and Jooheon was with Yoongi playing basketball when his cell rang. All of them answered the call, and all of them dropped their phones to head to the hospital as soon as they could: That was the doctor, telling them that Hyungwon's heart was beginning to fail.

Which meant that Hyungwon... was dying.

**_Next: The Heart_ **


	19. The Heart: Part 1

Hyungwon opened his eyes to surroundings he couldn't recognize. There were no large buildings, no roads or lights... even the air smelled different. He felt like he'd been whisked off to another world; he was neither in living realm or Limbo. Instead, he was in a thick forest, the ground covered in greenery, the sound of animals everywhere. None of it felt real... it felt like he was dreaming. 

And for some reason he couldn't explain, this forest felt eerily familiar to him.

_"You have entered the first stage of the Point. From this moment on, you will have to deal with any trial that you are faced with **alone** , Hyungwon. To complete this trial, you must be able to come back... The further you get in that plane, the more aligned your soul and body will be. So y ~~ou better~~.... ~~make i~~ t ..... ~~ba~~.... ~~ck~~... ~~a~~ ~~li~~ ~~ve!!"~~_

"Essence?! Essence what is happening right now?! Where are you?! Essence!!" Her voice had completely disappeared, all contact with her was severed. He was alone, _truly alone_ , for the first time since all of this began. "The only thing I can do is move forward, huh?" So he continued to walk down the dirt path before him, following the twists and turns. He'd have to traverse this phantom world within himself... _by himself._

He wandered down the seemingly endless path before him until he came to a fork, but instead of choosing a path to take he goes directly through the forest. Nothing in this journey has been as easy as picking a direction, so why would he start now? Just as he'd gone past a thicket of jumbled trees, he came to a clearing. This clearing had four doors at its center, each with a different name atop their gateways.

**_"Path of The Soul"_ **

**_"Path of The Mind"_ **

**_"Path of the Body"_ **

**_"Path of the Heart"_ **

Just then, a small flame, similar to how Essence was when they first met, appeared before him. Unlike her, however, it didn't say a word. it only swayed around him and beckoned him to follow it towards the gateways that had appeared. The first one, named the "Path of The Soul", was pale in color. As he looked upon its entrance he could see that subtle cracks had already started to form.

This place was already collapsing slowly.

The weight he felt coming from behind the door was something much different than anything he'd ever felt before. It was like looking down a dark stairwell that you just did not want to go down. Everything told him that if he stepped through it, it something more would happen. More than what he could handle.

But that was already happening with him being here. 

"I have to enter here?" Again, he was met with silence. But by the growing cracks in each of these portals, he guessed that meant it was now or never. He didn't know what to expect when he stepped through it. What "trial" awaited him? He closed his eyes expecting excruciating pain, but when nothing happened he was met by another sight.

He was in an ancient village. There were little homes made of wood and straw and dirt roads connecting them all together. Torches were the only source of light, and the people that walked through him wore robes and simple silks. They spoke an old language that he couldn't understand. Trying to grasp what kind of situation he was now in, he went through the crowd to see what the commotion was about.

There was a beautiful woman who Hyungwon was shocked to see; she resembled Essence to a staggering degree! As the chaos continued, He noticed that he could understand them more and more. That's when he heard a voice in his head.

**_"In a land known to be like a garden, there was a beauty beyond compare. Some even believed she came from the gods, and she reigned over the restless spirits that lingered between life and death. She guided them to their final rest, and for a long time, she was worshipped for her deeds."_ **

That was the first time he'd heard it speak. The little white flame. It was a male voice, soft and slow. Each word was said with care so that he wouldn't have to repeat them. Hyungwon was glad he wouldn't have to figure this out on his own. But with every word it spoke, he felt a weight fall upon his shoulders. With every scene he saw, he head spun with the feeling of deja vu. 

Why did he want to take this woman and run far away from this place? It didn't make any sense to him. But even more confusing scenes began to unfold, and the woman went from being beloved to being hated. 

**_"Her power was feared and loved, but those who feared her outweighed those that did not. Not feeling safe within this sanctuary, she decided to create her own in a place that was between life and death. She kept this secret from the people, and for years she prepared to leave for that place."_ **

As if a filter has been placed on him, he could comprehend the ancient people's gibberish. The words that came out were "evil spawn", "witch", or "wicked one". They wanted this person _out_ of their town, pinning all types of crimes on her. But why was it like this if they once revered her? As if to answer his question, the little flame continued with the story.

_**"But when the woman fell in love with a certain being that had come to live there as well, she was scorned. The people found out. This being was seen as a demon, even though he did not leave the heavens for evil purposes. He left because he loved the woman, and wanted to stay with her for the rest of his days. But that union went against their beliefs, thus she and her lover were driven out."** _

Hyungwon didn't want to just sit and watch them wrong her like this. He wanted to punch every person that threw a stone at her. Of course his punches went through them. How frustrating it was even though he'd been dealing with this predicament for months now.

But then another person stepped in. He wasn't sure if this person was an actual person because of the burning wings on his back and breaking halo. This must have been the being from the flame's story. _"Lilith, take my hand!"_ He yelled, taking her into his arms. Hyungwon could tell by his trembling figure that he was in a lot of pain, but he was fighting through it to get her somewhere safe.

This angel of a man, whose face Hyungwon couldn't clearly see, opened a portal through dimensions. His wings and halo continued to crumble as the opening got bigger, until they were no longer a part of him. The little flame followed them through, and Hyungwon joined them.

He closed his eyes, but when he opened them again, he was once again at those gates in the clearing. Only this time, there were _three_ instead of four. The weight did not disappear, however, and it felt like his heart was being weighed down by gravity and squeezed by an invisible force. He felt like something inside him was going missing, like there was a painless hole growing inside him.

The cracks in the entrances had grown even more, and even though he knew that symbolized that he was running out of time, he didn't feel anything. In every movie he'd ever seen, that was a sign that you were _dying_. The flame didn't wait for him to collect his thoughts as it went into the next doorway, a darker gray than the one before it.

Hyungwon didn't realise he'd just lost his ability to feel pain.

\----------------------------------------

All six of the brothers got to the hospital at almost the same time, meeting each other in the lobby of the building. They ran through the doors leading to the ICU where Hyungwon was, the scene a picture from their worst nightmares.

"Clear!" The shock to his chest caused him to jolt up slightly, lifelessly returning to the bed. The monitors beeps were irregular, going haywire with warnings. Another doctor was on top of him performing CPR while a nurse pumped air into him with a breathing tube that was already in his throat. "Again, Clear!" Yet another shock, this time a little stronger.

It wasn't working. 

"Hyungwon!!" Hoseok hit the glass as the tears ran down his face. All of them were yelling, pleading for him to fight through it. Only Changkyun was quiet. Minhyuk noticed the pale look on his little brother's face. And even as the worst was over and Hyungwon returned to a semi-stable condition, his face did not return to color. His knees gave way as his tears silently fell to the floor with him.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Changkyun, you okay? Should I call a doctor?" He helped him off of the floor, helping him to the reserved room they had whenever they came to visit. "I know that was scary... but--"

"It was all my fault." He said suddenly, catching them all off guard. "What do you mean by that? How can this be your fault?" Hyunwoo said, just as confused as the rest of them were. He looked up at them, "Hoseok-hyung, you've seen Hyungwon in your dreams. Kihyun, you've seen his shadow. Hyunwoo, Jooheon, you two have heard his voice. Minhyuk, I know you've gotten a lot of activity from Hyungwon too, am I right?" 

Their faces couldn't conceal the amount of shook they were in that their youngest brother knew what each of them were experiencing. Each of them kept it to themselves because they didn't think the other would believe them. "I saw him tonight. Clear as day. He protected me from some bullies, but he was angry... the most angry I'd ever seen him... And he was in so much pain..."

Changkyun could feel the tears stinging the corners of his eyes. "He was in pain... and I was _scared_ of him. It was a reflex but then... then he disappeared. And that was when I got the call." All of them sat down, having acknowledged each other's experiences. "How did you come to find all of this out?" Kihyun was the one to ask this time. Changkyun closed his eyes, only daring to point to the corner of the room. "Her." 

When they looked to where he was pointing, they instinctively backed as _far_ away from the scene as they possibly could.

A large red flame appeared out of nowhere, erupting into the form of a beautiful and fierce young woman. The look on her face was one of extreme pain, but she was fighting through it. _"Don't bother screaming. I don't got that kind of time."_ She said, judging them _hard_. 

Just as she said those words, shadows began to form on the floor like snakes slithering across their feet. She purged them easily with her flames, but they could tell she wouldn't be able to keep this up. _"The house. Now."_ She disappeared just as suddenly as she came, most of the boys still shook to utter silence. 

All except for Changkyun and Minhyuk. This _entire_ night had been a long rollercoaster they wanted to get off of. They'd already seen so much scary, weird, and crazy stuff to the point nothing could faze them anymore. But fate seemed to love messing with them...

\------------------------------------

Jungkook and Jimin met up in Limbo, just beyond the hospital's perimeter. They were worried, their mistakes having come to head with Hyungwon's declining health. After Hyungwon disappeared from Limbo, entering this final stage within his self-named Essence Point, Essence, she fully materialized before the both of them. 

**_\--Flashback, the roof of the college building after Changkyun rushed to the hospital--_ **

Jungkook had ever seen a more powerful essence sprite than she, all of the ones he'd dealt with weren't even past the Lacuna point, most were _barely_ Echo point. But she was a fully realised essence point level, _abnormal_ soul sprite. 

_"If you try to fight me right now, you will die. If your brother, who I can sense is on his way, tries to fight me, you will both die. I am in no mood to deal with you. But you are close to my Hyungwon's brothers, and that means I can not ignore you."_ Just as she said that, Jimin came through a portal to the scene. Craters in the ground, Jungkook in one of them, and the essence before them at its strongest.

"What happened... to Hyungwon I mean?" Jungkook asked, the hesitation clear in his voice. Her flames raged for a few seconds before replying, her irritation very clear. _" **Dying** thanks to you. But you should already know that." _She hissed at the both of them, Jimin not sure what was going on. 

All he knew was that Minhyuk left the station in a hurry, not telling anyone where he was going. Jungkook filled him in on what had just happened, and he went a shade paler than he already was. "What drove him into that stage so early?! It's too early! We have to find a way to-"

 _"You can't."_ Essence interrupted. Her flames were a deep set orange, and her face was winced as if she was in a lot of pain. But this being seems to have been very prepare for this outcome. _"Everything I've done until now was to get him out of here as soon as possible. His only hope was seeing his brothers again, and then you came. Limbo feeds on the broken hearts of souls... and you lot gave it another meal to prey upon."_

Her red flames sputtered and swirled as her rage grew. _"It takes everything in me for me not to kill you right now, but it is not what Hyungwon wanted. He cherishes his brothers too much, and even though he was ready to kill you,"_ She pointed to Jungkook, shocking Jimin. _"He stopped because of Changkyun. If only you knew even half of his pain..."_

She was furious, she had all right to be. Jungkook and Jimin knew their wrongdoings. It didn't matter if they were trying to repent upon learning that their human friends were affected by it. They still ruined lives, and possibly _ended_ another's. No matter how one looks at the situation, Jimin and Jungkook were still _demons_. "No amount of apology can rectify out blunder." Jimin said, Essence giving him a _'No shit, Sherlock'_ frown.

 _"The only 'sorry' I want is if you dropped dead. But even that won't satisfy me anymore."_ She hissed. She may have been made of fire, but her gaze was colder than ice. The pressure around them felt like gravity was betraying them, pressing down on them with a force solely focused on them and nothing else. They couldn't scream even though they wanted to. Her presence was too strong for them to fight even if they tried. 

How could demons feared by many be this terrified right now?

Then she let them go, a sigh escaping her lips. Their caught breaths returned to them, and everything returned to normal. _"Our quarrel comes later, right now another being watches."_ They looked around, shocked. They couldn't sense anything, but Essence was picking up on a dangerous, ominous presence.

One she couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity. 

_"I have to go keep my Hyungwon alive. Go to their house, and bring Changkyun's findings with you."_ She pointed at the book Jungkook had forgotten he was holding. Just before the call came, Changkyun said he'd found something, and he'd written a bunch of notes along with that book before hand.

Essence blipped out of their vicinity, leaving Jimin and Jungkook to think about their next moves. "Hyung... I don't think we have much choice here." Jungkook said, Jimin replying with a nod. If they'd been normal demons, ones that go after any soul or sprite in their path, they would have died from just looking at Essence.

She was that strong.

But then another thought popped into his mind; a question: _"What price does she have to pay for that power?"_

**_\--End Flashback--_ **

_\---------------------------------------------_

_"Everything is set, Master. How do you wish to proceed?"_ The dark figure, clad is the shadow of the night smiled in contempt. "When the last part of the stage is reached, she will be at her most vulnerable. Until then, we wait." The servant backed away with a bow, waiting on it's master's next orders. 

"I'll send my newest toys to play with them. Simply waiting for the inevitable is so boring. I wonder what Jimin and Kookie will do next? This Changkyun is so fun to mess with, and Minhyuk too. What do you think, Brit?"

_"It is as you wish it, Master V"_

He laughed heartily as they again disappeared into the nothingness of the night, only being noticed by one being. His prize to be won, the sister of his beloved wife, Essence. Both of them were the key to his ultimate plan, and in time, she'd know it too.


End file.
